Recently published Ornithological IVorks. 197 



six consecutive winters it was our friend's good fortune 

 to accompany Sir Frederick Johnston and his wife, Lady 

 Wilton, during their delightful yachting cruises in the 

 Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. His host and 

 hostess most kindly gave Dr. Lowe every opportunity of 

 visiting little known i«;lands and spots in order to gratify 

 his taste for Natural History, and the readers of this 

 Journal have had several opportunities of judging how well 

 he has profited by their kindness. Alter making his 

 scientific discoveries public Dr. Lowe has thought tliat a 

 more popular account of some of his reseaches might be 

 appreciated, and has composed the present volume. 



The three " Desert Islands," which are the sj)ecial 

 subjects of the work, are Swan Island in the middle 

 of the Gulf of Mexico, Blunquilla on the Venezuelan coast, 

 and the group of i.he Hcrmanosj 90 miles due north of 

 Venezuela. As will be noted, his chapters are by no 

 means confined to Bird-life, but range over the whole field 

 of Natural History, and touch upon many other subjects of 

 general interest. We strongly recommend the perusal of 

 ' A Naturalist's Visit to Desert Islands ' to all our readers. 



14. Mathews on the Birds of Australia. 



[The Birds of Australia. By Gregory M. Mathews. Vol. i. pt. 5, 

 London : Witherbv & Co. October, 1911.] 



Except for the Introduction and Index, which will together 

 form Part 6, Mr. Mathews has now completed the first 

 volume of his work, and we congratulate him on the success- 

 ful issue of this instalment of his arduous task, and on the 

 continued excellence of the text and jjlates. This is parti- 

 cularly noticeable in the Part before us, where he has been 

 able to add considerably, by the help of several good 

 observers in Australia, to the life-histories of the species 

 already published. 



Perhaps, however, it is on critical points of nomenclature 

 and synonymy that the author would at this juncture be 

 most anxious to insist; and with these we may express a 

 general agreement, so far as we can judge from his pages, 



