140 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



widely from the birds of the British Islands. It would be 

 very remarkable if they did. The Japanese Islands bear 

 almost exactly the same relation to the east coast of the 

 Palsearctic Region as the British Islands do to the west coast. 

 The Palaearctic Region^ as defined by Sclater and Wallace, 

 is a very clearly defined one so far as the majority of birds 

 are concerned. The range of many species extends from the 

 British Islands across Europe and Siberia to Japan. Of 

 course there is no species found both in Britain and in Japan 

 but not in the intervening district. Cases of interrupted 

 areas of distribution are almost unknown, though there are 

 many cases in which West-European birds resemble more 

 closely East- Asiatic ones than the Siberian races which inter- 

 vene. This is unquestionably the most remarkable fact con- 

 nected with the birds of Japan, and it is one that has not 

 been insisted on as much as it ought to have been." Mr. 

 Seebohm gives as examples of this phenomenon Accentor 

 rubidus and A. modularis, Garrulus japonicus and G. glan- 

 darius, and Acredula trivirgata and A. rosea. 



The third and principal portion of Mr. Seebohm^s volume 

 contains an account of the 381 species of Japanese birds, 

 arranged according to his new system, with commentaries on 

 their identification and distribution. The groups that are 

 not represented in the Japanese avifauna are mentioned in 

 their proper places, so that the whole of the new classification 

 is exhibited. Very few synonyms are given — too few in our 

 opinion, although it may be said that the repetition of useless 

 synonyms is now-a-days a more frequent occurrence than 

 their undue restriction. The numerous woodcuts are mostly 

 old friends, but not on that account less useful or acceptable. 



25. Sharpe on the Birds of Fernando Noronha. 



[Notes on the Zoology of Fernando Noronha. By H. N. Ridley. 

 Journ. Linn. Soc, Zool. xx. p. 477. Aves. By R. Bowdler Sharpe.] 



The birds obtained at Fernando Noronha by Messrs. 

 Ridley and Ramage are referred by Mr. Sharpe to 7 species. 

 Three of these are land-birds — Vireo gracilirostris, a repre- 

 sentative form of V. magister, now described as new ; Elainea 



