378 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



The Birds of South Africa. By E. L. Layard, F.Z.S., &c. 

 A New Edition, thoroughly revised and augmented, by 

 R. B. Sharpe, F. L. S., F. Z. S. Royal Hvo, Part VI. 

 London : Quarritch, 1884. 



With the issue of his sixth and last part, Mr. Sharpe has at 

 length completed this important work, the former parts of which 

 have already been noticed (Zool. 1877, p. 350). 



So " thoroughly '' has Mr. Layard's book been " revised and 

 augmented," that in lieu of the post-octavo volume of 382 pages, 

 which appeared (without illustrations) in 1807, we have now a 

 handsome ro3'al octavo of 855 pages, embellished with twelve 

 coloured plates of some of the rarer or more remarkable species. 



This notable expansion of the original work is due, partly to 

 the fact that during the past fifteen years considerable collections 

 have been formed in South Africa, and many important papers 

 published on the ornithology of this subregion, and partly to 

 Mr. Sharpe's enlargement of the area, beyond the geographical 

 limits originally assigned by Mr. Layard, to the Zambesi on tlie 

 east coast, and to the Quanza on the west coast, which has of course 

 resulted in a large increase in the number of birds to be described. 



The geograpliical distribution of South African birds appears 

 to have been made a feature of the present edition ; and in some 

 instances, as with the Woodpeckers, Grass Warblers, Wheatears, 

 and Larks, Mr. Sharpe has given a complete revision of the 

 families and supplied new descriptions. In most cases, how- 

 ever, as he tells us in his Preface, he has retained Mr. Layard's 

 original descriptions, " inasmuch as they were compiled b}"^ a first- 

 rate field-ornithologist for the benefit of field-ornithologists, and 

 because they proved eminently successful in the first edition." 



Mr. Sharpe is certainly to be congratulated upon having now 

 brought to completion a work which at once takes rank as the 

 text-book for the region, or rather subregion, of which it treats. 



The total number of species now included as occurring 

 within the limits of South Africa, as defined by Mr. Sharpe, is 

 812, and the following synopsis will give an idea of the families 

 which are characteristic of this subregion : — 



