Recently published Ornithological Works-. G15 



nearest relations are the Cryptnri. At first sight it is not 

 easy to understand how this categorical statement is to be 

 reconciled with the equally emphatic rejection of the " Palaso- 

 gnatha?/' but the combination of the Ratitae with the Cryptnri 

 versus all the other Carinatae is on p. 672 rightly dismissed as 

 " a quite extraordinary overestimation of the taxonomic value 

 of the palatognathous apparatus/'' The Brevi-humerales 

 are traced towards the stock of the Grallatores in the wider 

 sense, an Order, for which the terrible name " Kolobathr- 

 ornithes " has been invented ; this Order comprising the three 

 suborders Charadrii-, Grui-, and Ilalli-formes. 



The combination of Pici and Passeres is vehemently upheld. 



There is a final chapter on the relation of birds to other 

 Vertebrata, with the comforting conclusion that the pro-avine 

 ancestor was not a dinosaur, crocodile, turtle, or lizard, but 

 some other reptile, name unknown. We must bear in mind 

 that the author, with his extensive morphological experience 

 and absolutely unique knowledge of the literature, is the 

 very man who, if he would but brace himself to do away 

 with the many "intermediary" groups and other subterfuges, 

 could give us by far the best system ever produced. — H. G. 



120. Goelcli on the Destruction of Birds in Amazonia. 



[Against the Destruction of White Herons and Red Ibises on the 

 Lower Amazon, especially on the Island of Marajo. Ky Prof. Dr. Emil 

 A. Goeldi, C.M.Z.S. Translated from the Portuguese into English by 

 Wm. H. Clifford. Sva. Para, 1902.] 



This is a translation into English of a vigorous appeal made 

 by our friend Dr. Goeldi to the Governor and Legislature of 

 the State of Para in 1890, and repeated in 1895, to take 

 some steps to stop the slaughter of the White Herons and 

 other birds carried on by the " plume-hunters " on the 

 Lower Amazon. " Must hundreds of thousands of Herons 

 perish every year," he says, to trim ladies' bonnets in the 

 United States and France ? " Let the ladies put something 

 else in their hats." Dr. Goeldi maintains: (1) that the 

 killing of Herons and Ibises during the breeding-season 

 shculd be rendered illegal ; (2) that the nesting-places of 



