^'^^Qif ^"^1 Recent Literature. 407 



gravure plates illustrate attitudes of the first two species during the period 

 of courtship. In addition to the detailed life histories, considerable space 

 is devoted in the Willow Warbler biography to a discussion of the probable 

 cause of the early migration of certain species of warblers and also of the 

 probability of the same pair of migrant birds mating in successive years. 

 The author considers the latter highly improbable in species where the males 

 precede the females in migration. The possibility of one or other perish- 

 ing during the migrations is very great and if the male bird waited for the 

 arrival of his last year's mate, many a male would remain unmated. The 

 evidence seems to point to his mating with the first female to arrive in his 

 neighborhood and this would seem most advantageous to the perpetuation 

 of the species. There is also much of interest in the account of sexual excite- 

 ment and display on the part of the male birds in the species treated. Both 

 plates and text are fully up to the high standard set by the previous parts. — 

 W. S. 



Hartert's Vogel der palaarktischen Fauna. — The seventh part ' of 

 this notable work on the palsearctic Avifauna comprises the Swifts, Goat- 

 suckers, Bee-eaters, Hoopers, Rollers, Kingfishers, Woodpeckers, Cuckoos 

 and part of the Owls. Owing to the strict adherence to the International 

 Code the nomenclature takes on some changes and accords with the A. O. U. 

 Check-List in genera which are found also in the Nearctic region. Dryo- 

 bates long used in America is adopted for the small black and white wood- 

 peckers and the efforts of our ornithologists in splitting up the North 

 American forms of this genus are far excelled, no less than sixty species 

 and subspecies being listed. D. major has sixteen races, and D. minor 

 thirteen. Picus takes the place of Gecinus. 



The following new forms appear in the main text or in annotations : 

 Caprimulgus europaeus sarudnyi, W. Turkestan; Dryobates minor buturlini, 

 Italy; D. hyperythrus marshalli, N. W. Himalayas; Piciimnus innonii- 

 natus m.alayorum, Borneo; P. i. avunculorum, Nilgiri Hills; Cuculus 

 canorus bakeri, Shellong, Khasia Mts.; C. intermedius insuiindae, Kina 

 Balu, Borneo. 



All who have occasion to deal with palaearctic birds will congratulate 

 Dr. Hartert upon the progress of his work. — W. S. 



' A Hand-List of British Birds. '2 — A little more than a quarter-century 

 ago the American Ornithologists' Union, in an effort to establish uniformity 



1 Die Vogel der palaarktischen Fauna. Systematische tjbersicht der in Europa, 

 Nord-Asian imd der Mittelmeerregion vorkommenden Vogel. Von Dr. Ernst 

 Hartert. Heft VII (Bd. II, 1). Seite 8.33-960. Mit 30 Abbildungen. Berlin, 

 1912. 



2 A Hand-list of | British Birds | with an Account of the Distribution of each 

 Species in the British Isles and Abroad. | By | Ernst Hartert | F. C. R. Jourdain | 

 N. F. Ticehurst | and | H. F. Witherby. | Witherby & Co., 326 High Holborn, 

 London, W. C. | 1912. — 8vo., pp. i-xii + 1-237. Price 7s 6d. net. 



