Recent Ornithological Publications. 473 



cannot in ornithology recollect another instance of a compara- 

 tively unknown author entertaining a design so ambitious, and, 

 as far as we can at present judge, completely fulfilling the most 

 sanguine expectation. As the work pi-oceeds we shall, no doubt, 

 often have occasion to mention it ; but its meritorious features 

 should at once be made known. The letterpress evinces an 

 amount of care in its preparation which would be creditable to 

 many older and more practised ornithologists. The synonymy 

 and diagnosis of the various species treated, seem to be very well 

 given ; and such particulars of their habits as can be gathered 

 from published or unpublished sources are furnished. The plates 

 are exceedingly well drawn and carefully coloured, proving the 

 artist to be a most correct observer of bird-life. The present 

 number contains a figure of Ceyx ival/acii, lately described as 

 a new species in the Zoological ' Proceedings ' by the author, it 

 having been formei-ly confounded with C. lepida. We sincerely 

 trust that Mr. Sharpe may obtain the encouragement his eflfort 

 deserves, and, by the success of the present undertaking, be 

 induced to continue a series of similar Monographs, than which 

 there could be no more agreeable possession to the ornithologist. 



Fully appreciating the spirit which prompted Mr. Collingwood 

 to undertake a voyage to the China seas, we must confess that 

 his book on the subject * is rather disappointing to an ornitho- 

 logist. We knew, indeed, that he was condescending to animals 

 of low degree ; but, still, birds have a place in marine zoology, 

 and we had been in hopes of finding more respecting them in 

 this work. Of those that are occasionally mentioned, some are 

 not correctly named. For instance, though while nearing the 

 Straits of Malacca the author had some hesitation as to whether 

 the Gannets he saw (p. 13) were really Sula alba, arrived at 

 Pratas Island (p. 31) he rashly omits the warning mark of 

 doubt, and roundly calls the species by that name, which our 



* Rambles of a Naturalist on the shores and waters of the China Seas : 

 being Observations in Natural History during a voyage to China, Formosa, 

 Borneo, Singapore, etc., made in Her Majesty's Vessels in 1866 and 1867. 

 By CuthbkrtCollixgwood, M.A.,M.B., F.L.S., &c. London: 1868. 

 8vo, pp. 445. 



