Recently published Ornithological Works. 465 



allusions to liirds will be found interspersed in the narrative. 

 An excellent illustration of the way in whieh Condors arc 

 lassoed (or attempted to be lassoed) is given, p. 205, and 

 a list of the 26 species of Humming-birds of Pichincha and 

 its environs, with remarks thereon, will be found at p. 215. 

 No naturalist should fail to read this most delightful and 

 instructive volume. 



93. Wiglesworth' s ' Aves Polynesice.' 



[Aves Polynesia). A Catalogue of the Birds of the Polynesian Sub- 

 region (not including the Sandwich Islands). By Lionel W. Wigles- 

 worth. Abh. k. Zool. u. Anth. Etlm. Mus. zu Dresden, no. G (1891).] 



The author claims for this catalogue the position of an 

 " enlarged second edition " of Gr. R. Gray^s well-known 

 ' List of the Bii^ds of the Tropical Islands of the Pacific 

 Ocean/ published in 1859, carried up to the standard of oiir 

 present knowledge. But it is even a more useful and much 

 more nearly complete work. In the first place, much greater 

 attention is paid to exact locality than was the case in Gray^s 

 List. At the present epoch, as Mr. Wiglesworth well 

 remarks, the " correct indication of habitat " has become 

 the " sine qua non of a faunal work on Polynesia." In the 

 next place, in the case of species peculiar to the subregion 

 (nearly three fourths of the 400) it has been attempted to 

 give a full synonymy. This will be of material assistance to 

 future workers on Polynesian ornithology. 



Gray enumerated 220 Polynesian birds. Mr. Wigles- 

 worth comprehends 416 in his catalogue, which, moreover, 

 does not include the species of the Hawaiian archipelago. 

 Of these 416, from 280 to 290 are autochthonous. 



In his well-written preface Mr. Wiglesworth divides 

 Polynesia ornithologically into five main divisions: — (1) 

 North-ivestern Polynesia — comprising the Marianne, Pelew, 

 and Caroline Islands (3 genera peculiar) ; (2) Melano- Poly- 

 nesia, i. e. New Caledonia and its- adjuncts (6 genera peculiar) ; 

 (3) Central Polynesia, i. e. Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa groups 

 (9 genera peculiar) ; (4) Eastern Polynesia, i. e. the Cook, 



SER. VI. VOL. IV. 2 II 



