Recently published Ornithological Works. 253 



science, and it was quite time that another book on the avi- 

 fauna of British India should be written to take its place. 

 No one will dispute the sagacity of Mr. Blanford in select- 

 ing the well-known author of the ' Birds of British Burmah ' 

 to undertake this arduous task, of which the first instalment 

 is now before us. 



Three volumes only have been allowed for the portion of 

 the ' Fauna of British India ' relating to the Birds. As the 

 number of species added to the list since Jerdon's time has 

 been increased " by more than one half/' this will make it 

 rather a "tight fit," we should say. But after our friend 

 Mr. Howard Saunders has performed the feat of compressing 

 the birds of Great Britain into a single volume, Mr. Oates 

 may well hope to be able to get through his task in three. 



In the present volume Mr. Oates treats of the first half of 

 the Passeres, and gives an account of the Corvidse, Cratero- 

 podidse, Sittidse, Dicruridas, Certhiidse, Regulidas, Sylviidse, 

 Laniidae, Oriolida;, Eulabetidaj, and Sturnidse belonging to 

 the Indian avifauna. 



The Passeres and their subdivisions are discussed in some 

 preliminary remarks, but the scheme of general classification 

 of Birds to be adopted is postponed pending the complete 

 elaboration of Mr. Seebohm's new ' Systema Avium.' 

 Mr. Oates shortly defines the Passeres as having the " deep 

 plantar tendons passerine ; the palate aagithognathous." Ihe 

 first part of this definition is not, we think, very successful, 

 as the plantar tendons of the " Passeres " must necessarily 

 be " Passerine," but the peculiar structure of these tendons 

 is subsequently clearly explained. 



As regards the difficult question of the arrangement of the 

 Acromyodian Passeres, Mr. Oates proceeds by dividing off 

 the Dicseida? as possessing a serrated mandible, and the 

 Alaudidae as having a scutellated tarsus. The remaining 

 families then fall into two groups, according as they have 

 nine or ten primaries. While these characters and others 

 subsequently mentioned seem to answer well for the purpose 

 of forming an analytical key, we must say that the result 

 arrived at by their aid is not a very natural classification. 



