Recent Ornithological Publications. 117 



tended publication of which we had the pleasure of announcing 

 in our last number (Ibis, 1869, p. 464) has just appeared; and 

 we do not hesitate to place it, though the most recent in point 

 of time, at the head of our long list. Its importance we are 

 sure will be fully recognized by every working ornithologist, and 

 for working ornithologists it is especially intended. It has 

 reached us so very lately that we will not attempt any criticism 

 of it; indeed, to criticize this work properly would require an 

 amount of labour certainly not less than that which the author 

 has given to its preparation ; and, moreover, a commentary upon 

 it could easily be made to occupy at least a whole volume of this 

 Journal. We strongly recommend Mr. Gray^s ' Hand-List' to our 

 readers, not that we would have them believe that we regard it as 

 free from spot or blemish, but because we think that by their as- 

 sistance many of its imperfections — imperfections some of them, 

 we must add, inseparable from a vvork of this kind, may be re- 

 moved, since we have good reason for saying that its author will 

 gladly receive any suggestions or corrections of errors that may be 

 pointed out to him with a view to amendment in the event of a 

 second edition being required. It is perhaps needful for us to 

 observe that, in forming an opinion of this book, ornithologists 

 must be careful to consider not what, according to their own 

 ideas, its scope might have been, but what its scope is. Mr. 

 Gray, we understand, has for many years past been in the 

 habit of keeping for his own private use, in the discharge of his 

 public duties, a manuscript list containing the name of every 

 genus or species of bird, entering each as it was described, with 

 a reference to the plate in which it was figured (should that have 

 been the case) and the locality whence it came. Finding this 

 list of great assistance to himself, he thought that, if published, 

 it would be of service to others, and being also called upon for a 

 new edition of his well-known and exceedingly useful ' Catalogue 

 of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds,' which is now out of print, 

 he determined upon taking the steps necessary for offering his 

 own private ' Hand-List ' to the public. The result we have 



Keeper of the Zoological Collections. Part i. Accipitres, Fissirostres, 

 Tenuirostres, and Dentirostres. London : 1869. 8vo, pp. 404. 



