522 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



irides, especially dwelt on by Forster, can be trusted, his bird 

 must in all probability have been an immature example of 

 Astur atricapillus. As this, however, must always remain 

 doubtful, we hope no nomenclator will wish to use for the 

 latter a name which has been attached for centuries to an 

 altogether different bird, the Saker of falconers. 



In honour of Seiior Vargas, a distinguished citizen of Vene- 

 zuela and the founder of the University of Caraccas, where, 

 among other things, he was Professor of Anatomy, a scientific 

 journal bearing the name of ' Vargasia ' has been established 

 by the Society of Physical and Natural Sciences at that ca- 

 pital. The fifth number of this periodical contains an ac- • 

 count by Mr. Anton Goering of a visit to some unexplored 

 caves inhabited by the Steaturnis caripensis. This locality is 

 situated two days' journey from Caripe (the original " Cueva 

 del Guacharo " discovered by Humboldt being only a short di- 

 stance from that city), and consists of two caves — the "Gran 

 Cueva" and the "Cueva Pequena," the former of which is said 

 to contain more Guacharos than that which was before known. 



11. Australasian. 

 The New-Zealand Institute has not been slow in following up 

 its first good stroke {supra, pp. 135, 136) with another; and 

 the second volume of its 'Transactions and Proceedings' is 

 of excellent quality. We must indeed congratulate our anti- 

 podal friends on the discovery that they possess so intelligent, 

 so observing, so accurate, and so enthusiastic an ornithologist as 

 Mr. Thomas H. Potts, of Canterbury, whose paper "On the 

 Birds of New Zealand " we would willingly, did space permit, 

 have reproduced in our pages. This treats almost entirely of 

 the habits of the birds of the country as observed by himself 

 and his sons throughout a long residence, and will be of espe- 

 cial interest to oologists, to whom, indeed. New Zealand has 

 hitherto been almost a terra incognita, the nests, several of 

 which are very well figured, and eggs of fifty-three species being 

 described at greater or less length. In the introductory obser- 

 vations, and, one may say, throughout the whole article, the 



