Recently published Ornithological Works. 255 



68. Zoological Record, 1887. 



[The Zoological Record for 1887, being Volume tlie Twenty-fourth of 

 the Record of Zoological Literature. Edited by Frank E. Beddard, M.A., 

 F.Z.S. 8vo. London: 1888.] 



Mr. A. H. Evans deserves, in our opinion, very great 

 credit for his article '^Aves^^in the 'Zoological Record'' for 

 1887. To expect that such a laborious and complicated 

 piece of work can be entirely free from errors is ridiculous. 

 If, therefore, we point out a few slips in the 76 pages of this 

 most useful publication, it is not from any wish to find fault 

 with it, but with the hope of assisting our brother ornitho- 

 logists who may use it, and of inducing the author to make 

 it more nearly correct in future. 



With tlie general classification used in the Record we cannot 

 naturally do otherwise than agree ; but we cannot understand 

 why the Oligomyodse should be placed first, when they are 

 undoubtedly intermediate between the Oscines and the 

 Picarise. Nor can we approve of the alphabetical series of 

 families adopted in the Oscines, which must cause many 

 difficulties to Avorkers, the most nearly allied groups being 

 thus placed far asunder. It would be better to adopt at 

 once the arrangement of the ' British Museum Catalogue of 

 Birds,^ which is, at all events, something definite to refer to. 



The following is a list of some of the errata and emen- 

 danda which we have noticed : — 



P. 5. " Certhilauda duponti, n. subsp.," should be " C. du- 

 ponti lusitanica, n. subsp.^^ See p. 42. 



P. 6. "Haliastur" vocifer should be '^Haliaetus." This 

 this is Mr. Bowker's error, but should have been corrected. 



P. 45. Chlorura belongs to the Ploceidae, not to the 

 Fringillidse. 



P. 50. Melilestes belongs to the Meliphagidse, not to the 

 Nectariniidse. 



P. 54. Podoces should, in our opinion, go rather with the 

 Corvidae than the Sturnidee. 



P. 54. The Sylviidse have now become rather a refuge 

 for the destitute. Can Accentor, Cryptolopha, and Thalar- 

 rheus in any wise be held to belong to it ? 



