Recently published Ornithulo(jical Works. 507 



Despott on Maltese Birds. 



[A List of the Birds of Malta. Compiled for the University Museum 

 of Natural Plistory by Gius. Despott. Pp. 1-39. Malta (Govt. Priutiug 

 Office), 1915. 8vo.] 



The study of the birds of Malta has been rather neglected 

 of late years. In the early days of the B. O. U., Mr. Charles 

 C. Wright published in ' The Ibis ' for 1864 his catalogue, 

 and Blasius gave a complete list in ' Ornis ' for 1894, con- 

 taiuitig the names of 288 species. Mr. Despott, who is 

 Curator of the Museum at Valetta, has now given us a list 

 of 340 species recorded from the island. Of these we believe 

 only some dozen of the land-birds breed regularly on the 

 islands, the others are all migrants only, and it seems that 

 Malta Avould be an extremely good place at which to carry 

 on a serious study of migration. 



The present list gives the English, Italian, and Maltese 

 names, and a short note on the status. The nomenclature 

 seems a little antiquated, but this can easily be remedied, 

 as we understand that Mr. Despott, who has recently been 

 elected a member of our Union, is preparing a more detailed 

 account of the birds of the Maltese Islands. 



Grlnnell on Museum Methods. 



[Methods of caring for study skins of Birds. By Joseph Griunell. 

 Proc. Amer. Assoc. Museums, ix. 1915, pp. 106-111.] 



In this short address Mr. Grinnell gives us of his 

 experience his methods for labelling, cataloguing, and storing 

 study collections of bird-skins. He does not give very pre- 

 cise details as to the cabinets or store-boxes in use in Ins 

 Museum at Berkeley in California, but we gather they are 

 very similar to those in use in the Museum at Cambridge, 

 Mass., where large wooden cases lined with zinc and with 

 air-tight doors are used. The birds are stored on light trays 

 with pulp-board bases, which slide in and out of the cases. 

 'J'his is a very different system from the one in use in the 

 Natural History Museum, and has a great many advantages 

 over the heavy and expensive cabinets generally used in tliis 

 countrv. 



