756 Recentlu published Ornitholof/ical JVurks. 



primary division of the world's surface into six Zoological 

 Regions, which was put forward by Sclater in 1857 and was 

 adopted by Wallace after close examination, has been entirely 

 emjDloyed in the pi-esent work. Of the three authors who 

 are credited with its preparation in the titlepage one is well 

 known to us as a distinguished ornithologist^ and it is, no 

 doubt, to his intelligent activity that the laborious process of 

 com[)iling and getting into proper order this enormous mass 

 of information relating to bird-life of the world has been 

 entrusted. 



Besides the discussion of the general facts of Distribution 

 more than twelve pages of double columns are devoted 

 to a summary of the principal facts known concerning the 

 structures and ranges of the numerous " Families " into which 

 the Class of Birds is divided. Then follows an excellent 

 " Bibliography/' in which the titles of all the previous works 

 relating to the various branches of Zoogeography are given. 

 Not only separate works are included in this useful catalogue, 

 but also the principal articles on the subject contained in 

 periodicals. As the titles of the works and papers are 

 arranged in geographical sections, this List will greatly help 

 those Avlio Avish to ascertain what has already been done 

 as regards Distribution in any particular part of the 

 globe. 



Lastly, we come to what is perhaps the most important part 

 of the whole work — that is, the Plates. Not including those of 

 a general character, the plates specially relating to " Birds'' 

 arc nine in number. It is difficult to say much about them 

 without going into details, which would be impossible on 

 the present occasion. But the plates may be stated to be, 

 on the whole, very satisfactory — certainly far better than 

 anything that has yet been published on this extremely 

 complicated subject. On the whole, ornithologists may be 

 well content with the information on their particular branch 

 of '' Zoogeography " collected in the present work, and 

 must thauic the enterprising publishers who have brought 

 it out in such first-rate style, as also the authors who have 

 compiled it. 



