Recently published Ontifholoykul Works. f)00 



liave always been favourite su1)jccts with Mr. Thorburn, aud 

 he has succeeded admirably with them ; we would specially 

 commend his pictures of the Capercaillie and the Pheasants, 

 both of which are depicted with a snowy background. In 

 the case of the Pheasants the Mongolian, Chinese Riug- 

 necked, and Japanese are represented, as well as the old 

 original English race, which is supposed to have beeu 

 brought from Colchis on the Black Sea. To our mind the 

 Ducks are too crowded to show off well, but this perhaps is 

 inevitable if only a limited number of plates can be devoted 

 to a large number of species. 



Witherby on Moult. 



[The Moults of the British Passeres, with Notes on the Sequence of 

 their Plumages. By H. F. Witherby. British Birds, ix. 1915 & 1916, 

 pp. 148-151, 167-176, 239-248, 314-316.] 



A few years back Mr. Witherby and Dr. Ticehurst Avrote 

 on this subject, and now Mr. Witherby alone is continuing 

 these investigations and proposes to review the moult and 

 sequence of plumage in systematic order throughout the 

 British Passeres. It seems a pity that he has not under- 

 taken to do this in birds generally, but perhaps that is a 

 ta^k which is so vast and requires such an enormous series 

 of specimens that it is at present impossible. The four 

 parts here noticed deal with the Corvidae, Sturnidee, Orio- 

 lidse, rriu-^illidse, and Alaudidse. In all these families the 

 principal moult is the autumn one, and in the first three the 

 effects of abrasion on the plumage are not very noticeable. 

 Among the Finches we find some species which have a partial 

 spring moult — in the Snow-Finch coufined to the throat, 

 and in some of the Buntings affectiug certain parts of the 

 head, throat, and breast. In this family, too, abrasion of 

 the tips of the body-feathers often greatly alters the appear- 

 ance of the birds, especially in late summer. 



The Larks are remarkable in the fact that the young 

 birds have a complete moult, including the wini;- and tail- 

 feathers, during the first autumu, and with this we find 



