164 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



general, however, the execution of the work is of the most 

 painstaking character, though we cannot quite agree to 

 placing Turnix in the Tinamidfe, or Tantalus among the 

 Ibises ! It is also rather a strong statement to say that Pho&- 

 nicopterus has nothing to do with the Herodiones, except as 

 regards " length of leg/^ Shade of Nitzsch ! 



19. Marsh on the Extinct Toothed Birds of North America. 



[Odontornitlies : a Monograph of the Extinct Toothed Birds of North 

 America ; with Thirty-four Plates and Forty Woodcuts. By Othniel 

 Charles Marsh. Mem. Peabody Mus. Yale College, vol. i. 4to. New 

 Haven, Conn. : 1880.] 



This is one of the most elaborate and best-illustrated mo- 

 nographs that have ever appeared on a zoological subject. 

 The whole osteology of Hesperornis and Ichthyornis is admi- 

 rably and fully described and figured in detail ; and restora- 

 tions of the entire birds are added. It is clearly shown that 

 these birds are types of two very different forms of ornithic 

 life which prevailed during the Middle Cretaceous period, and 

 to be referred to two different Orders, " Odontolcae,^' and 

 " Odontotormae," both provided Avith teeth, which in the 

 former were placed in grooves, in the latter in sockets. In 

 the former (^Hesperornis) the sternum was without a keel, 

 and the wings rudimentary ; in the latter the sternum was 

 keeled, and the wings well developed. Prof. Marsh proposes 

 to unite these two groups with the Saururae {Archaopteryx) 

 into one subclass, " Odontornithes," which, of course, is quite 

 different from any existing form of bird-life. 



20. Oustalet on new Birds from New Guinea. 



[Description de quelques oiseaux nouveaux de la Nouvelle-Guinee ; par 

 M. E. Oustalet, Ass. Scient. de France. Bull. Hebdomadaire, No. 11.] 



M. Oustalet describes a supposed new species of Paradise- 

 bird of the genus Drepanornis, from the northern coast of 

 New Guinea, between 136° and 137° E. lat., as follows : — 



" Le bee n^est pas noir comme chez Drepanornis albertisii ; 

 il est jaunatre sur le specimen desseche et se fait remarquer 



