liecent Ornithological Publications. 105 



Dr. Depierre's Lanius, though honoured by a specific name, 

 is considered by him to be only a hybrid between L. collurio and 

 L. auricularis {L. rufus, Temra.); and the plate representing 

 it inclines us to believe that the author is right. M. Fatio's 

 paper on Calamolierpe palustris gives some minute characters 

 whereby that species may be distinguished from C. strepera, 

 which, as our readers may know, very closely resembles it. We 

 have heard a story of a collector who possesses a skin of one of 

 these two birds that has made the tour of Europe, and has been 

 almost alternately referred to either by each successive ornitho- 

 logist to whom it has been submitted ! May be this story is an 

 exaggeration ; but its very existence as a story shows the diffi- 

 culty of distinguishing between preserved specimens of the two 

 species; and if M. Fatio has succeeded in making the diagnosis 

 clearer, he will have earned the thanks of ornithologists. The 

 " Analyses" consist of some admirable abstracts, chiefly, it would 

 appear, by M. Humbert, of various papers, among which, as 

 was the case before, we are pleased to see several from this Jour- 

 nal. A variety of interesting information is also contained in 

 the " Proces-verbaux " of the Society^s Meetings. In conclu- 

 sion, we venture to suggest to our excellent Swiss brethren that 

 in their next volume the pagination should be consecutive, and 

 not, as in the present, distinct for each part. If they will do us 

 the honour to follow our proposal, we are sure they themselves 

 will speedily find how much more conveniently they can refer to 

 any particular passage they may wish to cite. 



4. Italian. 

 Signer Antonio Riva has published a descriptive manual of 

 the Birds of the Canton of the Ticino*, to which he has added 

 the names of other species alleged to be found in Europe. Of 

 the merits of this work, as a local fauna, we cannot pretend to 

 speak. They easily may, and we would fain hope do, exceed 

 its merits in any other character ; for the author does not seem 

 to have made himself acquainted with the more recent emenda- 



* Ij'Ornitologo Ticinese, ossia Manuale desciittivo gli Uccelli di stazione 

 e di passag-^io nel Cantone Ticino, coll' elenco noiiiinativo e sistematico di 

 quelli d'Europa e della loro ordiuaria diinora. Lugano : 1865, 8vo, pp. 50(5. 



