114 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



nearly 40 in number, which adorn the " Bird-Hall/^ and 

 correspond to the series of mounted groups illustrative of 

 different species well known to us at South Kensington. 



2. Allen on the Flight of Birds. 



[On the Structure of Birda in relation to Flight, with special reference 

 to recent alleged discoveries in the Mechanism of the Wing. By J. A. 

 Allen. Trans. New York Acad. Sci. vii. p. 89.] 



Mr. Allen^s paper on the much- vexed question of the 

 bird^s wing gives a good summary of our knowledge of the 

 subject, but does not, we think, add much to what was pre- 

 viously known. We quite agree with him that " in the 

 present state of avian anatomy it is extremely rash for any 

 one to claim the discovery of a new muscle in the wing or 

 in any part of the bird's body till he has made himself 

 thoroughly familiar with the work of his predecessors " ! 

 That there is, however, still work of a very telling description 

 to be done on the bird's wing may be easily seen by reference 

 to Mr. Wray's recently published paper on this subject 

 (P. Z. S. 1887, p. 343), so do not let us discourage any one 

 from taking up the subject. 



3, 4. Barboza du Bocage on Birds from St. Thomas, West 

 Africa. 



[Sur quelques Oiseaux de File St. Thom^, par J. V. Barboza du Bo- 

 cage. Jorn. Acad. R. d. Sci. d. Lisboa, Num. xlviii. p. 211. 



Oiseaux nouveaux de I'lle St. Thom4, par J. V. Barboza du Bocage. 

 Op. cit. p. 229.] 



In the first paper Prof. Barboza du Bocage gives an account 

 of a collection of 13 skins sent from the island of St. Thomas 

 by Mr. F. Newton to the Lisbon Museum. In the second 

 he describes as new Scops scapulatus, Aniblyospiza concolor, 

 and Columba arquatrix, var. thomensis, based upon specimens 

 received in another collection from the same collector, and 

 adds a list of 24 other species, also represented in the last 

 collection. 



