410 Recent Ldterature. [july 



Pterodroma for ^strelata the British List is probably correct. Harelda 

 for Clangula depends upon whether or not Oken's names are accepted, while 

 the use of Eremophila and ^golius depend upon the claim that the prior 

 names Eremo-philus and ^golia do not invalidate them. In the use of 

 Bomhycilla for Ampelis and Hirundo for Chelidon the A. O. U. List is 

 unquestionably right. The first author to fix a type for Hirundo was 

 Gray, 1840, who designated H. rustica. The International Code does not 

 recognize type fixing by restriction except where there are only two species 

 in the genus, so Forster's action in 1817 amounts to nothing. The case 

 of Grus vs. Megalornis will probably have to be decided by the Commission 



In the case of specific names hyperboreus Gunn. for the Glaucous Gull 

 and alba Gunn. for the Ivory Gull are rejected; tschegrava Lepsch. for the 

 Caspian Tern is considered perfectly identifiable; cesalon Tunnstall for 

 the Merlin is rejected as a nomen nudum and funerea L. for Tengmalm's owl, 

 as unidentifiable. 



This comparison shows that it will now be very easy for American and 

 British ornithologists to come together on matters of nomenclature and 

 that the diversity in names at present is due mainly to different views 

 as to the limits of genera. 



We congratulate the authors of the British Hand-List upon the character 

 of their work, and upon the great strides that they have made toward 

 uniformity of nomenclature. Let us hope that all British ornithologists 

 will hearken to the plea that they make and adopt the names here set forth 

 in all future writings upon British birds. — W. S. 



Horsbrugh's ' The Game-Birds and Water-Fowl of South Africa.' ^ 



— The first part of this recently announced work is before us. It is beauti- 

 fully printed on heavy paper, and the plates, printed in colors on egg-shell 

 surface paper, are exceedingly delicate and portray the minute details of 

 plumage characteristic of game-birds with great fidelity, even though the 

 artist has not attempted the life and action, and originality of pose, 

 which we are familiar with in the work of Fuertes and some of our other 

 bird artists. 



This part consists of sixteen plates portraying ten Bustards, two Thick- 

 nees, three Snipe and a Francolin with a page or two of text to each. This 

 comprises synonymy, local names, brief description, distribution, and a 

 general account of habits and abundance. 



The author is apparently not an advocate of excessive generic subdivision 

 and the Bustard's referred to seven genera in the British Museum Catalogue 

 here all appear under the classic name Otis. 



I The I Game-Birds and Water-Fowl | of South Africa | By I Major Boyd Hors- 

 brugh I (Army Service Corps) ] Member of the British Ornithologists' Union and 

 South African | Ornithologists' Union; Fellow of the Zoological Society of London | 

 with I Coloured Plates 1 By | Sergeant C. G. Davies | (Cape Mounted Rifles) 

 M. B. O. U., M. S. A. O. U. I To be Completed in Four Parts | Part I. | London: 1 

 Witherby & Co., 326 High Holborn W. C. | March, 1912. | pp. 1-40, pll. 1-16. 



