Recently published Ornithological Works. 93 



in 'The Ibis' for 1869, p. 304. The bill of this bird is turned to 

 the right ; aud, singularly enough, Mr. Buller finds that, cor- 

 related with this character, the black pectoral of the male bird 

 is unsymmetrical, being wider on the right- than on the left- 

 hand side of the bird. Mr. Potts tells us that the bird obtains 

 its food by probing under stones for the insects lurking beneath. 

 It would appear that the peculiarly shaped bill would only be 

 an efficient weapon for obtaining food in this way so long as 

 the bird walked one way round the stone, i. e. bearing to the 

 off side or from west to east ! The wider portion of the pec- 

 toral band would thus be always next the stone, and more 

 hidden than the narrower or left portion. Has running round 

 stones always the same way been the cause which enabled 

 those birds which practised it to survive and transmit this 

 habit to their offspring ? and has their success been further 

 promoted by the tendency to reduce the exposed side of their 

 pectoral band, a secondary sexual character? Or has the 

 process been reversed and the protection given to those birds 

 which ran one way round stones, keeping the prominent por- 

 tions of their pectoral bands from sight, tended to produce the 

 curvature of the bill ? The development of both characters 

 seems to hang upon the birds acquiring the habit of running 

 only one way round stones. We hope Mr. Potts will watch 

 these birds closely, and let us hear more of them and their 

 singular habits*. 



We have mentioned this singular feature in Anarhynchus 

 at length ; but the rest of these two parts are full of inter- 

 esting matter. 



Mr. Elliot has finished his work on the Phasianidaef; and 

 a very complete monograph he has made of it. The issue of 



* Instances of asymmetry in the structure of birds are very rare. We 

 can only recall the formation of the ear in some Owls — for instance Teng- 

 malm's Owl (Nyctale tengmalmi), well described by Collett, P. Z. S. 1871, 

 p. 739. This may be produced by the constant habit of catching sound 

 by always throwing the same ear forwards. The skull of the Woodpeckers 

 is also unsymmetrical, arising perhaps from the birds' being right- or left- 

 handed workmen. 



t A Monograph of the Phasianidae or Family of the Pheasants. By D. 

 G. Elliot, F.L.S. &c. 



