lS _. Recent Literature. ■? t C 



Berlepsch and Peters on Birds from Curacao. 1 — Having received a 

 number of birds collected on Curacao by Heir Peters, Graf von Ber- 

 lepsch has made this collection the basis for an extended review of the 

 relationships of the birds of this island. A synopsis of" the previously 

 existing literature referring to the avifauna of the island is followed bv 

 analyses jpf the birds found there, which show their continental and 

 West Indian affinities. In explanation of the singular distribution of 

 Conurus pertinax, found only on Curacao and St. Thomas, it is sug- 

 gested that the bird may have been introduced on the latter island, a not 

 unreasonable supposition. 



The nineteen species given from the island are very fully annotated. 

 Coereba uropygialis, Buteo albicaudatus colonics, and Falco sparverius 

 brevipennis are descibed as new. The list is concluded bv a synoptical 

 table which readily shows the distribution and relationships of Curacaon 

 birds. 



Herr Peter's field-notes refer to fifty-one species of which only eighteen 

 are represented in the collection. — F. M. C. 



Hartert on Birds from Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. 2 — A revolution 

 having prevented Mr. Hartert from visiting Venezuela, as he proposed 

 doing on his recent trip to South America, he turned his attention to the 

 small islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao oft" the Venezuelan coast. 

 The restricted fauna of these islands is of course less attractive to the 

 collector than the rich life of the mainland forests, which is doubtless 

 the reason, as Mr. Hartert states, for their comparative neglect by nat- 

 uralists. We may be thankful, therefore, that they have at last been 

 thoroughly explored by an experienced col lector. The results of this 

 exploration have in part been announced in the Bulletin of the British 

 Ornithologists' Club for 1S92 and 1S93, where Euethia sharpei, Myiarchus 

 brevipennis, Conurus arubensis, and Amazona rotkschildt, all slightly 

 differentiated insular forms, were described. To these Columbigallina 

 passerina ferpallida is now added, and a plate of A. rothsckildi is given. 



Aruba, sixteen miles from Cape San Roman, is the nearest of the three 

 islands to the continent. Mr. Hartert gives a list of twenty two land- 

 birds and eighteen water-birds as a result of his observations in this island. 

 Amazona canifrons (Lawr.) from Aruba is considered to have been based 

 on an example of A. ochroptera (Gm.) "with a dirty forehead." A plate 

 is given of the latter species. Mr. Hartert stales that in Icterus xan- 

 thomas curasaoensis the black tail is assumed "by changing colour, not 

 by moult, as two of my specimens clearly show." It is to be regretted 



1 Die VSgel der Insel Curacao nach einer von Herrn Cand. fheol. Ernst Peters 

 daselbst angeleten Sammlung bearbeitet von Hans von Berlepsch. Journ. fur Orn., 

 January, 1892, pp. 61-104. D' e V6gel Curacaos. Nach meinen Journalnotizen 

 vom 21. August bis 5. Sept. 1890. Von Ernst Peters Th. C. Ibid., pp. 104-122. 



2 On the Birds of the Islands of Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire. By Ernst Hartert. 

 Jbis, July, 1893, pp. 289-338, pll. viii, ix. 



