Recently published Ornithological Works. 143 



of the germs. In Part V. he reviews the Ibises, Storks, and 

 Herons of Japan. Ihis yropinqua is held to be probably dis- 

 tinct from /. melanocephala. The Platalien {major and minor) 

 are discussed. A new Reef-Heron is described as Demiegretta 

 ringeri (allied to D.jugularis). A new subgenus [Phoyx] is 

 proposed for Ardea purpurea. 



31. Stejneger on Hawaiian Birds. 



[Birds of Kauai Island, Hawaiian Archipelago, collected by Mr. Val- 

 demar Kuudsen, with descriptions of new species. By Leonhard 

 Stejneger. Pr. U.S. N. M. 1887, p. 75.] 



We have here an account of the collection of birds formed 

 by Mr. V. Knudsen on the island of Kauai, in the Hawaiian 

 Archipelago, and sent to the U.S. National Museum. Kauai 

 is the most northern of the Sandwich-Island group, and is 

 sejmrated from Oaliu by a channel 70 miles wide. It is very 

 mountainous and well wooded, so that a rich avifauna was to 

 be expected. Mr. Knudsen^s collections contain examples 

 of 20 species, of which 5 are described as new, namely : — 

 Himantopus knudseni, Chasiempis dolei, Phaornis myiadestina, 

 Himatione parva, and Oreomyza bairdi. Oreomyza is a new 

 genus of Dicseidae. Dr. Stejneger also bases two more new 

 species of Chasiempis, C. ridgwayi and C. ibidis, on Sclater's 

 figures of C. sandwichensis, published in this Journal in 1885 

 (pi. i. figs. 1 and 2). It is quite possible, as Sclater has 

 allowed in his article, that the two forms may belong to 

 different species and not to sexes of the same species. But 

 if such be the case, according to our views, both of them were 

 provided with names in the last century by Gmelin*, and we 

 see no justification for giving them new ones. In our opinion 

 C. ridgwayi, Ste]i\.^C. sandwichensis (Gm.), and C. ibidis, 

 Stejn. (if distinct) = C. maculata (Gm.). It is a pity that Dr. 

 Stejneger, with so much good material before him, should 

 think it necessary to manufacture " new species " out of 

 other people^s figures without seeing the specimens. At the 

 same time we fully acknowledge the great value of the pre- 



* See Sclater's remarks ' Ibis,' 1885, p. 18. 



