Recent Ornithological Publications. 339 



Kennedy shows himself capable of good, honest, original work ; 

 and we are much mistaken if the zeal which has prompted him 

 to the performance of the present promising labour docs not 

 before long place him high in the ranks of Ornithologists. 

 Before we part with his book, however, we desire to utter a word 

 of warning to the next author of a county avifauna : — Let him by 

 all means eschew the exceedingly inconvenient practice of ar- 

 ranging the species in four or five categories, "Residents," 

 " Summer Visitors," and so on, the effect of which is that one 

 cannot find a species until one knows the character which it 

 assumes in the locality, and that character is probably just the 

 particular thing one wants to know about it. Mr. Kennedy has 

 done the best he can to remedy the inconvenience by supplying 

 a very sufficient index ; and in this, as in several other respects, 

 he deserves great praise. 



We are indebted to the kindness of Captain Bulger for a little 

 pamphlet entitled ' Random Notes on Indian and Burmau Orni- 

 thology,' which we are in doubt how to treat. Being privately 

 printed in India (at Bangalore), it is in no sense of the term an 

 " English publication ; " and further, though the donor has con- 

 siderately informed us who its author is, yet that gentleman 

 appears on its title-page merely as a " Vagrant." We respect- 

 fully entreat naturalists in India, where the practice seems rather 

 extensively to prevail, as witness " Mountaineer," " The Old 

 Shekarry," " Ornithognomon," and others, to lay aside this 

 false modesty, and to confess their own identity. There is no 

 better rule in science than that of disregarding anonymous or 

 pseudonymous personages ; but it is very disagreeable having to 

 ignore them, when they have to give (and this is often the case) 

 interesting information. 



A collection without a catalogue is reduced to half its real 

 value ; yet many collectors neglect this necessary adjunct to their 

 possessions — some from not knowing on what principle they 

 should begin, others from not taking the trouble to prepare one. 



