Becenthj published Ornithological Works. 189 



2. Berlepsch on the Birds of the Aru Islands. 



[Die Viigel der Aru-Inseln, mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der 

 Sammhmgen des Ilerrn Dr. H. Merton, zusammengestellt von Hans 

 Graf V. Berlepscl). Abh. Senck. Nat. Gesell. xxxiv. Frankfort-a-M.]. 



The Aru Islands^ although frequently visited by naturalists 

 and well-known to Wallace, who has devoted several chapters 

 to them in his 'Malay Archipelago/ have never^ so far as 

 we know, had the honour of a special treatise on their 

 Birds. An excellent ornithologist has now undertaken 

 this task, basing it on the Collection lately made there by 

 Dr. Hugo Merton and entrusted to Graf v. Berlepsch by the 

 Senckenbergian Museum at Frankfort-a.-M. 



The known Ornis of the Aru group contains about 188 

 species. Dr. Merton's Collection embraces specimens of 

 fifty-eight. Of these, three [Halcyon macleayi insnlaris, 

 Sterna longipennis, and Slei'na ana'stlieta) are additions to 

 the Avifauna. After several pages of well-written general 

 remarks, in which ten species of birds are designated as 

 being, so far as Ave yet know, peculiar to the Aru Islands, 

 our author gives a systematic list of all the species of the 

 Island-group, with references to former authorities and 

 other observations. That the Aru Islands have a pre- 

 dominantly Papuan Avifauna is manifest by their being the 

 sole possessor of the Great Bird-of-Paradise (Paradisea 

 apoda), besides many other significant Papuan forms. 

 There is, however, apparently a feeble Australian element. 



3. Brabourne and Chubb on the Nomenclature of the 

 Rheas. 



[The Nomenclature of the Rheas of South America. By Lord 

 Brabourne, F.Z.S., and C. Chubb, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., Zoological Depart- 

 ment, British Museum. Ann. & Mag. N. II. ser. 8, vol. viii. p. 73.] 



The authors wish to rename the common Wiea americana 

 and to call it Rhea rothschildi, because they say that 

 Linnaeus' Struthio americanus was based on Marcgrave's 

 " Nhandugnacu/' which came from the district occupied by 



