274 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



Brazilian district, he collected 525 species, in the Central-Brazi- 

 lian 312, in the Bolivio- Brazilian 456, in the Columbio-Brazi- 

 lian 540, in the Guiano-Brazilian 182, and in the Lower-Ama- 

 zoniau 197. This valuable essay concludes the third part of 

 the work, which will be completed by a fourth, now in the press, 

 containing (we are glad to hear) a general index to the whole. 



5. Russian. 



Few, if any, of our readers ought to be unacquainted with 

 the excellent work done now many years ago by Dr. von Mid- 

 dendorfF during his arduous travels in the extreme north and 

 far east of Siberia, though it is to be feared that their know- 

 ledge of the * Sibirische Reise ' may not be very deep. The 

 strictly ornithological part of this voluminous work was issued 

 in 1853, and of course it is not our intention here to revert to 

 its contents; but in 1867 there appeared another volume, or 

 portion of a volume, of the series, giving a general Review of 

 the Natural History (in the widest sense of the term) of the 

 inhospitable tracts visited by this intrepid traveller, and espe- 

 cially of the Animal World of Siberia ^. This book reached us 

 only in the course of the last twelvemonth, and we feel bound to 

 mention it as including matters of very great interest. Since 

 the author risked his life on those boundless wastes, several 

 other devoted explorers have added much to our knowledge of 

 their ornis, of which he is consequently enabled to give a far 

 more complete account than if he had attempted the task in 

 former years, dependent only on the labours of his predecessors 

 and on his own personal investigations, though these were 

 neither few nor unimportant. 



The geographical range of the birds, among other Siberian 

 animals, is treated at some length. Dr. von Middendorff divides 

 and subdivides them (somewhat arbitrarily perhaps) into various 

 groups, such as the " Circumpolar Fauna,^^ composed of those 

 species which he considers to be quite or nearly identical 

 throughout the whole circumpolar tract, including as a sub- 



* Dr. A. v. Middkndoeff's Sibirische Reise, Band iv. Uebcrsicht 

 der Natur Nord- uud Ost-Sibiriens, Theil 2, erste Lieferung. — Die Thier- 

 welt Sibiriens. St. I'etersburg : 1867. 4to, pp. 785-1094. 



