364 Recently published Ornithological Works. [Ibis, 



Brewster-Sanford collection from South American coasts, 

 while the junior author has also had an opportunity of 

 examining the material in the English and French 

 Museums. With these advantages they have been able to 

 make a thorough revision o£ all the described forms, which 

 they propose to arran<ie in four subgenera and five species^ 

 one of which is divided up into five subspecies. 



There are two problems which are difficult of solution. 

 One of these is that a distinct species, P. magelltmi, is 

 interposed geographically between two closely-allied sub- 

 species. P. urinatrix coppingeri of southern Chili and P. u. 

 berard of the Falkland Islands and the coast of Argentina, 

 the first-named being found in the Magellan region between 

 the other two. The other crux is the occurrence of P.geor- 

 gicus on South Georgia as well as on Macquarie Island south 

 of New Zealand. 



In their final discussion the autliors endeavour to explain 

 these anomalies. The new names proposed are Porthmornis 

 and Pelagodyptes, subgenera for P. magellani and P. georgicus 

 respectively. The new races had been already named. 



Oberholser on desert bird-life. 



[Glimpses of desert bird-life in the Great Basin. By Harry Oberliolser, 

 Smithsonian Report for 1919, 1921, pp. 355-36G.] 



In this little essay Mr. Oberholsei- sketches in a brief and 

 attractive manner the characteristic bird-life of the great 

 tract of country west of the Rocky Mountains and east of 

 the coast range of California, the greater part of which is a 

 continuous desert from south-east Oregon to the mouth of 

 the Colorado river, where it pours its waters into the head 

 of the Gulf of Mexico. Notwithstanding its desert characters, 

 there are a good many lakes, mostly salt, the chief being 

 the Great Salt Lake of Utah, which harbour many water- 

 birds. These and the more strictly desert forms, such as 

 Horned Larks, Road-runners, Gambel's Partridges, and other 

 less familiar birds, are all pleasantly described. 



