Recently published Ornithological Works. 115 



well aware, no one is more competent to do so, from his un- 

 rivalled personal experiences in almost every part of the 

 western palsearctic region. We could well have wished he 

 had confined himself to this branch of the subject, and had 

 not gone into disputed points of nomenclature. What with 

 the discordant views of Sharpe, Dresser, Newton, and See- 

 bohm, the poor British birds' names are now in a sad plight. 

 Who shall decide when doctors disagree ? 



42. Sharpe on the Ornithology of New Guinea. 



[Contributions to the Ornithology of New Guinea. By R. Bowdler 

 Sharpe, F.L.S. Part VIII. Journ. Proc. Linn. Soc. Zool. xvi, p. 422.] 



This paper " contains notes on collections made by Mr. 

 A. Goldie in districts at the back of the Astrolabe range in 

 South-eastern New Guinea, and by Mr. C. Hunstein on 

 Normandy Island, on the south shore of the mainland of the 

 China Straits, and on the banks of a river at the end of Milne 

 Bay."" The author had already shortly characterized 1 1 new 

 species from Mr. Goldie's collection {cf. Ibis, 188.2, p. 467) ; 

 he now describes these more completely, and also character- 

 izes as new ^thomyias guttata from the same collection, 

 and Phonygama hunsteini and Ptilorhis intercedens from 

 Mr. Hunstein's collection. About 150 species all together 

 are mentioned, 



43. Stejneger on Myiadectes obscurus. 



[Description of two new races of Myadestes obscurus, Lafr. By Leon- 

 hard Stejneger. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1881, p. 371.] 



Mr. Stejneger has found that Myiadectes obscurus " ought 

 to be divided into three distiuct races — (1) M. obscurus, from 

 the tableland of Mexico and Guatemala, (2) M. obscurus, wax. 

 occidentalis, from S.W. coast of Mexico and Guatemala, and 

 (3) M. obscurus, var. insularis, from the Tres Marias islands." 



44. Stejneger on the West-Indian Myiadectse. 



[Synopsis of the West-Indian Myiadestes. By Leouhard Stejneger, 

 Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1882, p. l-').] 



This is an important and carefully prepared memoir, con- 



I 2 



