244 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



numbers when the first Maori immigrants arrived, from 500 

 to 600 years ago.'^ " They were destroyed wholesale by 

 setting the grass and scrub on fire, the Maoris killing in 

 this manner vast numbers more than they could use." As 

 regards the existing avifauna, the peculiarities of the Carinatae 

 are thus summarized : — 



" Out of a total of 88 genera, 47 belong to the Limicolae, 

 Herodiones, and the five web-footed Orders, and these, being 

 in a sense cosmopolitan, may for the present be put out of 

 sight. Of the remaining 41 genera, 21 are strictly peculiar 

 to New Zealand. But even in the other more widely-spread 

 genera there are many species that are not known elsewhere. 

 Thus, out of a total of 181 species, comprising the present 

 list of our Carinatae, no less than 93 are strictly endemic. 

 Even among the most diffuse Orders there are genera restricted 

 in their range to New-Zealand rivers or coasts, or to the out- 

 lying islands. Thus among the Limicolae we have two 

 strictly peculiar genera, Thinornis and AnarhyncJius, and 

 among the Anseres two more, namely, Hymenolcemus and 

 Nesonetta." 



Good work deserves to be well supported ; and in the 

 present instance it would seem to have met with its merits, 

 the whole edition of 1000 copies being, if we understand it 

 rightly, nearly disposed of. Few bird-books, we believe, have 

 ever met with similar success. 



50. Buller on Mr. S. TV. Silver's Collection of New -Zealand 

 Birds. 



[A Classified List of Mr. S. William Silver's Cjlhction of New-Zealaud 

 Birds (at the Manor-House, Letcomb Regis), with short Descriptive Notes 

 by Sir Walter L. Buller, K.C.M.G., D.Sc, F.R.S. 8vo. London: 1888.] 



This is a classified list of the stuffed specimens of New- 

 Zealand birds contained in Mr. S. William Silver's private 

 collection at Manor-House, Letcomb Regis. The collection, 

 which is one of the most complete in Europe, was exhibited 

 in the New-Zealand Court of the Colonial and Indian Exhi- 

 bition, where many of us will well recollect seeing it. 



Short explanatory notes are given under the head of each 



