Recently published Ornithological Works. 365 



69. Emin Pasha's Letters and Journals. 



[Emin Paslia in Central Africa, being a collection of his letters and 

 journals, edited and annotated by Professor G. Schweinfiirth, Professor 

 F. Eatzel, Dr. R. W. Felkin, and Dr. G. Hartlaub. Translated by Mrs. 

 E. W, Felkin. London : 1888. 1 vol., 8vo.] 



Few African travellers and explorers have done more for 

 ornithology than Emin Pasha. Besides his excellent col- 

 lections, his letters and journalSj which are here given to us, 

 contain many interesting notes on bird-life in Central 

 Africa, and are well worthy o£ study. Here, for example, is 

 what Emin Pasha tells us of the station of Agaru, in the 

 Shuli country, about 4° N. lat., east of the Nile, and 3700 

 feet above the sea-level : — " Like Latuka, Agaru should 

 yield many treasures to the collector. I found a Weaver- 

 bird, resembling Hyphantornis spekei, but differing from it 

 in its white under-jaw and throat; it is probably a new 

 species. For the first time I met with the superb Pholi- 

 dauges leucogaster, which appeared to be passing in small 

 noisy flocks to the north-west. The Beef-eaters [Buphaga 

 erythrorhynclia) , which prove such a sore pest to the cattle, 

 were particularly numerous and bold. Kingfishers [Halcyon 

 semicarulea) , the beautiful Ispidina picta, and Bee-eaters 

 [Merops bullockii and M. pusillus) sat on the bushes catching 

 insects. The Hoopoe [Upupa epops) is also fairly common. 

 Fringillidae appear in legions at this season of the year, being 

 attracted by the ripening corn. While in Tarangole, the 

 place of the House-Sparrow is taken by the Philagrus 

 melanorhynchus , it is here represented by the Passer swain- 

 soni, a bird of the same group. Neither of them, however, 

 build their nests in the huts. Altogether, the feathered 

 fauna of this country is more closely allied to that of Abys- 

 sinia and the Somali-country than to that of our province.'^ 



Emin's " zoo-geographical notes," to which a whole chap- 

 ter is devoted, are also deserving of careful perusal. 



70. Harvie-Brown on the Isle of May. 



[The Isle of May : its Faunal Position and Bird-Life. By J. A. Harvie- 

 Brown. Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh, ix. p, 303.] 



