520 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



German, printed in England, and published nowhere; but we 

 are ready to accord to the author^s nationality all the credit (and 

 it will be by no means small) which belongs to the ' Monograph 

 of the PhasianidcE' *, of which the first number appeared in the 

 course of the summer. Just as the joint product of the three 

 species of Pheasant (the Common, the Ring-necked, and the 

 Japanese) is a finer bird than any one of its progenitors, so is 

 this, the offspring of three countries, the most beautifully finished 

 ornithological work on which we have ever set our eyes. The 

 drawing and colouring of the plates, after designs by Mr. Wolf,, 

 is indeed worthy the graceful and splendid objects they repre- 

 sent ; and in the letterpress there is a manifest improvement 

 over Mr. Elliot's former works. Among the species here figured 

 (several for the first time) are four which were originally brought 

 to notice in ' The Ibis ' — Polypectron germaini, Ai-gus grayi, 

 Ceriornis blythi, and Numida verreauxi, for which last the author 

 makes out a very fair case {cf. supra, pp. 300, 443, et 444). 

 With regard to the Ceriornis, we may remark that the type of 

 the species is the very bird which was last year taken to be a 

 C. temmincki by Mr. Jerdon {supra, p. 147), who subsequently 

 described it as new under the name above given in the 'Journal 

 of the Asiatic Society,^ — and also, though it is a matter of slight 

 moment, that Mr. Elliot copies the erroneous statement made 

 in the Zoological ' Proceedings^ for the present year (p. 162), 

 wherein it is said that the first notice of this bird was contained 

 in a letter addressed by Mr. Jerdon to our distinguished prede- 

 cessor, and " was accompanied by an enclosure upon the same 

 subject for publication in ' The Ibis,' which was duly forwarded 

 to the Editor of that jovirnal " — the fact being that exactly the 

 converse was the case. We heartily congratulate Mr. Elliot on 

 this new undertaking, and trust it will meet with the encourage- 

 ment it so fully deserves. 



The ornithologists of the United States have not lost much 

 time in making use of " Walrussia '^ — the last addition to the 



* A Mouogiaph of the Phasianiilae or Famil}' of the Pheasants. By 

 D. G. Elliot, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. Part i. Published by the Author. 

 June, 1870. Imp. fol., 15 plates. 



