Recent Ornithological Publications. 343 



Pierre Belon, and Conrad Gesner, and of the results of their 

 works as affecting the science. As a part is contained in the 

 whole, ornithology dates from the time of the " Father of Zoo- 

 logy ;" and Gesner^s ' De Avium Natura ' appeared, we believe, 

 in 1555 ; but Belon was certainly the first pure ornithologist, 

 and his quaint quatrains, first pubHshed at Paris in 1557, have, 

 with their woodcuts, long been objects of delight to antiquarian 

 book-worshippers as well as to naturalists, who are actuated by 

 a more scientific, if not a more practical taste. We look for- 

 ward with much interest to the continuation of Count Arrigoni's 

 ' Storia,^ which we trust he will prolong to modern times. 



The ' Atti della R. Accademia delle Scienze di Torino ' for 

 the present year contain two valuable papers by Dr. Salvador!. 

 The first is on the ornithological labours of the much-regretted 

 Professor De Filippi, and consists of a very careful abstract of and 

 commentary on his contributions to various publications, in- 

 cluding identifications, more or less precise, of several species 

 described as new by the deceased naturalist. Among these we 

 may here especially mention, as of interest to our readers, the 

 fact that Dr. Salvador! refers, with some doubt, Irania finoti, De 

 Filippi (February 1863), with which Saxicola albigularis, Von 

 Pelzeln (October 1863) is unquestionably identical, to Cossijpha 

 gutturalis, Guerin (Rev. Zool. 1843, p. 163), described from 

 specimens obtained in Abyssinia by MM. Ferret and Galinier, 

 and figured in the account of their voyage (vol. iii. pi. 5). 

 There can, we think, be no doubt on this score; for Mr. Sclater 

 has lately been good enough to show us specimens of this bird 

 sent from the same country by Mr. W. Jesse, the zoologist at- 

 tached to the happily-concluded Expedition, and they are cer- 

 tainly identical with others obtained in Palestine by Mr. Tris- 

 tram. The species, therefore, was not figured in this Journal 

 (Ibis, 1867, pi. i.) for the first time as we had thought; and though 

 it may be a matter of opinion whether Dr. Salvador! is right in 

 regarding Irania as a genus distinct from Bessurnis, there is no 

 question but the species will have to bear the name of gutturalis 

 bestowed on it by M. Guerin. Dr. Salvadori's second paper is 

 a monograph of the genus Prionochilus, of which he recognizes 



