694 Recenfly im.hlisJied OrnHholoylcal Works. 



H. I. albus. In the Scolopacidae (where, according to his 

 measurements the female always seems to have the longer 

 bill) he proposes a new genus, Zarapita, for Numenius tenui- 

 rostris, and separates the Whimhrels from the Curlews (as 

 PJicEopus) on account of their very different relative pro- 

 portions. So also he makes a new genus Vetola for the 

 Bar-tailed God wits, and here a nice illustration is given 

 of bill and leg for comparison. Mesoscolopax is accepted 

 for Numenius minutus, and Iliornis of Kaup for Totanus 

 stagnatilis. 



Menegaux on the Ostrich. 



[L'elevage de I'Autruche. Eecolte et Commerce des Plumes. Pai' 

 A. Menegaux, Assistant au Must^um National d'Histoire Naturelle. 

 Preface de M. Edmond Perrier, Direclear du Museum National d'Histoire 

 Natnrelle. Pp. 1-156. Paris (^Cliallamel), 1913. 8vo.] 



This work forms one of a series of handbooks — biblio- 

 thequc d'agricniture coloniale — prepared for the benefit of 

 the French colonists in Algeria, Morocco, and other French 

 ]30ssessions. 



Although Ostrich-farming has been attempted in many 

 parts of the world — in Algeria, the French Soudan, Mada- 

 gascar, Arizona, and California — it never seems to have 

 become well established, from a commercial point of vieWj 

 except in Cape Colony. 



It was about the year 1870 that the idea arose among the 

 more enterprising farmers of the eastern portion of Cape 

 Colony of breeding and domesticating these birds on a large 

 scale. So rapidly did the industry spread that whereas in 

 the census of 1865 only 80 tame Ostriches were included, 

 in that of 1875 there were 32,000, while at the present time 

 their numbers have been augmented to upwai'ds of a million 

 birds, yielding annually 741,000 lbs. of feathers, valued at 

 over 2^ mvUions pounds sterling. 



M. Menegaux's account is largely based on a series of 

 papers by Prof. Duerden, of Grahamstown, published in the 

 ' Agricultural Journal of Cape Colony/ and subsequently 

 in that of the Union of South Africa during the years 



