266 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



35. Blackburn (Mrs. H.) on Bird-life. 



[Birds from Moidart and elsewhere. Drawn from nature by Mrs. Hugh 

 Blackburn. Royal 8vo. Edinburgh : David Douglas, 1895.] 



" Alas^ how time escapes !" It seems but yesterday, and 

 yet nearly 34 years have passed since the appearance of the 

 first notice in ' The Ibis ' of Mrs. Blackburn's ' Birds drawn 

 from Nature/ while the concluding portion of that volume 

 was reviewed just 28 years since. In the interval Mrs. Black- 

 burn's hand has not lost its cunning, as shown by some of 

 her later drawings — for instance, the Goshawk on its prey 

 (p. 1 8) — while the letterpress is excellent of its kind. "Where 

 the artist excels is^ however, in depicting movement in birds, 

 and this is evident even in those cases in which the outline 

 is slightly blurred. We particularly admire the frontispiece, 

 with a group of sea-birds fishing tumultuously off the island 

 of Eigg, the Wren feeding her brood (p. 102), and the Cor- 

 morants, Golden Plover, and Seals on the basaltic islet of 

 Haskeir, near Canna. It is hardly necessary to eulogize the 

 powers of observation shown by the author of one of the 

 best descriptions extant of the behaviour of the nestling 

 Cuckoo ; but here is a little suggestion for the attention of 

 those interested in Crows : — " In the young Grey-backed 

 Crow the eyes are blue. I do not know if it is so in the 

 Black Carrion Crow.'' Nor do we at this moment, though 

 we incline to think that the irides in the latter are dark ; but 

 well-informed people will doubtless be able to tell us. 



36. Buttikofer on Turdinulus and the allied Genera. 



[A Revision of the Genus Turdinus and Genera allied to it, with an 

 Enumeration of the Specimens contained in the Ley den Museum. By 

 J. Biittikofer. Notes Leyden Mus. xvii. p. 65.] 



Mr. Biittikofer gives us a revision of Turdinulus and the 

 allied genera of the family, based upon the specimens in the 

 Leyden Museum. He commences with a key of the 21 

 genera — Turdinus, Ptilocichla, Ptilopyga, Lanioturdinus*, 

 Turdinulus, Rimator, Malacocincla, Anuropsis, Crateroscelis, 

 Amaurocichla, Trichostoma, Drymocataphus , Scotocichla, 



