Recently published Ornitholoyical Works. 285 



could have been devised for a man whose whole soul was 

 in birds and eggs. The volume is creditable alike to the 

 author, the editor^ and the publishers, who have evidently 

 spared neither trouble nor expense in its preparation. 



60. Sharpe's 'Monograph of the Paradiseidae.' 



[Monograph of the Paradiseidee, or Birds of Paradise, and Ptilono- 

 rhjnchidce, or Bower-Birds. By R, Bowdler Sharpe, LL.D., F.L.S., &c. 

 Part VI. Folio. London : H. Sotheran & Co., 1896.] 



The sixth part of the Monograph of the Paradise-birds 

 (dated 1896, but not delivered at the Zoological Society's 

 Library until Jan. 1st, 1897) contains ten beautiful plates 

 of the following species : — 



Craspedophora mantoui. Diphyllodes seleucides. 



Laiuprothorax wilhehninse. Paradisea raggiana. 



Epimachus ellioti. Xauthomelus 



lanthothorax bensbachii. Loria marise. 



Diphyllodes maguifica. - Ptilonorhynchus violaceus. 



Of these, the newly-discovered forms Lamprothorax and 

 lanthothorax are, perhaps, the most noticeable. The latter 

 has not been previously figured. 



It is announced that, owing to the discovery, during the 

 last two years, of several magnificent new species of Birds 

 of Paradise, it has been found necessary to extend the 

 present work to eight parts, instead of six, as originally 

 intended. 



61. Swann on British Birds. 



[A Concise Handbook of British Birds. By H. Kirke Swann. 12mo. 

 London, 1896.] 



This compilation is w^anting in system and plan — some 

 rare species, e. g. Saxicola stapazina and S. deserti, being 

 described in full, while on the same page S. isabellina is 

 merely named, without a line to enable the novice to identify 

 it. All the Corvidse are described except the Nutcracker ; 

 the Short-toed and the Siberian Larks are merely named; 

 while among the Sandpipers and the Ducks description 



