412 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



Hartlaub, the Nestor of European ornithologists, as he may 

 now well be called, sends us a copy of a second and revised 

 edition of his essay on birds that have recently become 

 extinct, and on those the continued existence of which seems 

 to be seriously threatened. We have already noticed the 

 first edition of this excellent memoir (Ibis, 1895, p. 494), but 

 we must say a few words about the second, with which, our 

 friend writes us, he hopes "^to make an honourable exit 

 from the ornithological forum /^ We trust, however,, that we 

 may receive many more contributions to our science from 

 Dr. HartlauVs pen. 



It was remarked before, as rega'ds species threatened with 

 extinction or nearly extinct, of which Dr. Hartlaub includes 

 20 in his list, that our American friends seem to have been 

 a little premature in placing some of their birds in this 

 category. It is certain that a number of Carolina Parra- 

 keets (^Conurus carolinensis) have lately been imported into 

 Europe and sold by the dealers at a few shillings each"^. 

 Examples of this bird are in the Zoological Society's Parrot- 

 house. Moreover, those who study the ^ Auk' will learn that 

 the Californian Vulture [Pseudogryphus califurnianus) is still 

 by no means rare in some localities of the Far West — a recent 

 observer having seen 26 of these birds in the air at one time 

 in the Sierra Nevada. Of actually extinct birds of the present 

 period, Dr. Hartlaub mentions 26, some of which (sc. Foudia 

 bruante and Nestor norfolciensis) are not represented in any 

 museum, and are known only from descriptions. 



As regards the Great Auk {Alca impennis), Dr. Hartlaub 

 tells us that two geologists lately at work near Falsterbo, in 

 Southern Sweden, discovered in some loam-deposits in the 

 middle of remains of Arctic plants a hollow cast of an egg of 

 the size and shape of the egg of this bird, upon the walls of 

 which were some pieces of eggshell. The dark spots on the 

 inner surface of these fragments correspond well, as testified 

 by Prof. Steenstrup, with the well-known markings of the 



* [A correspondent writing from Kissimmee, Florida, says : — " There 

 have been some men here from the Smithsonian Institution, who have 

 carried back several hundred skins of the Parrakeet with them." — Edd.] 



