370 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



79. Shufeldt on some Birds' Sterna and Skulls. 



[On a Collection of Birds' Sterna and Skulls, collected by Br. Thomas 

 H. Streets. By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1887, p. 377.] 



Dr. Shufeldt gives an account of a collection of sterna and 

 skulls of birds made by Dr. Streets, of the U. S. Navy, in 

 the nortli and south Pacific in 1884-85, and now presented 

 to the U. S. National Museum. Several good illustrations 

 are inserted in the text, amongst which we may call attention 

 to the fij!ures of two skulls of Corvus cor ax sinuatus, as likely 

 to be serviceable to those who pin their faith to exact 

 measurements. 



80. A. C. Smith on the Birds of Wiltshire. 



[The Birds of Wiltshire. By the Ptev. Alfred Charles Smith, M.A. 

 London: 1887.] 



This work is described in the preface as being "a plain 

 account of the Birds of Wiltshire, written by a Wiltshire man 

 and for Wiltshire people ; " but its bulk is considerably in- 

 creased by the insertion of a great deal of matter relating to 

 the author^s experiences abroad, especially in the south of 

 Europe and in Egypt. These, together with Mr. Smithy's re- 

 marks upon the vernacular and local names of birds in many 

 foreign countries, mingled with scraps of folk-lore, will be 

 very interesting, no doubt, to a larger circle than the inhabi- 

 tants of Wiltshire, but they have no particular reference to 

 that county. We will not take exception to the classification 

 and nomenclature adopted by the author, for he disarms us 

 by plainly stating that, as a member of the B. O. U., he 

 honestly tried his very best to fall in with the new scheme as 

 set forth in the ' B. O. U. List/ and gave it up in despair ! 

 This surrender will, however, hardly excuse him for writing 

 Lani^doe and Charndri2idai, and as each of these errors occur 

 twice, they cannot be attributed to the printer. Again, with 

 every respect for Mr. Smith's old-fashioned habits, it is rather 

 too much to find the Bustards placed among the Struthionidoe, 

 and the Petrels included amongst the Laridse ! We also regret 

 to see the list of Wiltshire birds swollen by the insertion of 

 such species as the African Buzzard, Great Black Woodpecker, 



