362 



NATURE 



\August 17, 1882 



approaching the consideration of all such problems with 

 a new light and an increasing disposition to limit the 

 field of inquiry. He will also see that much that he took 

 to relate to problems of the nature of objects within ex- 

 perience, really relates to the problem of experience itself. 

 And he will probably agree with Kant in thinking that 

 the difficulty of investigating this special problem is a 

 difficulty not of kind but of degree, and this whether his 

 conclusions are those of Kant or none at all. Just at 

 present, when the tendencies of science are increasingly 

 in the direction of general conceptions, it is difficult to 

 avoid feeling that some knowledge of what Kant really 

 taught ought to be far more widely diffused among 

 scientific men than is actually the case. 



R. B. Haldane 



RECENT ORNITHOLOGICAL LITERATURE 

 The Cones Check List of North American Birds. Second 

 Edition, Revised to Date, and entirely Rewritten, under 

 direction of the Author, with a Dictionary of the Ety- 

 mology, Orthography, and Crthoepy of the Scientific 

 Names, the Concordance of Previous Lists, and a Cata- 

 logue of his Ornithological Publications. 8vo, pp. 1-165. 

 (Boston : Estes and Lauriat, 1882.) 

 Beitrage zur OrnitJiologie Siidafrikas. Von Dr. Emil 

 Holub and Aug. von Pelzeln. (Wien : Holder, 1882.) 



DR. ELLIOTT COUES is well known for the labo- 

 rious works on ornithological literature which have 

 flowed from his pen during the last ten years. No fact 

 seems too trivial for record, no labour too great for this 

 author when once he sets his mind to exhaust the literary 

 history of any group of birds, or the ornithological fauna 

 of a country. We have just received a copy of his second 

 Check List of North American Birds, which appears to 

 us to be much the most complete work of its kind which 

 has yet appeared. An entire list of the Birds of North 

 America, as politically defined, is here given, and we 

 perceive that the number of recorded species has increased 

 from 283 in 1814 (Wilson) to 888 in the present volume. 

 Mr. Ridgway's estimate in 1880 was 924, but this total is 

 reached by including in the North American List several 

 species which are found in Mexico, as well as in the 

 islands of Socorro and Guadeloupe. Dr. Coues considers 

 that there are not more than thirty out of his 888 species 

 " whose claims to be recognised by sub-specific names 

 can be seriously questioned. Pp. 1-22 are occupied with 

 the Introduction, a comparison of the present edition with 

 the former Check List published in 1874, and a very in- 

 teresting treatise on the " Use of Names." American 

 ornithologists have so long ago adopted the trinomial 

 system of nomenclature that it has become part and 

 parcel of their writings, but so far it has not been adopted 

 by Old World ornithologist?, at least in the same sense 

 as that in which the Americans employ the three names. 

 To have to label a specimen Icterus melanocephalus 

 auduboni (Gir.), Coues, is certainly more awkward than 

 simply writing Icterus auduboni, and if the race is not 

 worthy of a separate name it would seem better to sup- 

 press it altogether, and to quote the species as Icterus 

 melanocephalus. The system too appears to us likely to 

 bolster up sub-species and races which are not entitled to 

 such recognition, as, for instance, in the case of the com- 



mon Barn-Owl (Aluco flammeus pratincole?), and the Mag- 

 pie (Pica rustics hudsonicd), which are not distinguishable 

 even as sub-species from the European Aluco (potius 

 Strix) flammeus, and Pica rustica, but seem to be retained 

 by American authors under their system of trinomial 

 nomenclature, chiefly because they have been once sepa- 

 rated and have been called Aluco pratincola and Pica 

 hudsonica. The Yellow-billed Magpie of California is 

 placed upon the same footing as Pica hudsonica, and 

 receives the trinomial epithet of Pica rustica nuttalli, 

 whereas we have never yet seen proof of any gradation 

 between it and Pica rustica, so that it would appear to be 

 quite a good species, and entitled to full specific rank. 

 These are small points on which European ornithologists 

 are always likely to differ from their American brethren, 

 but there can only be one opinion about the great value 

 of the etymological portion of the present work, which 

 has been most carefully written by Dr. Coues, the classical 

 derivation of every generic and every specific name being 

 most carefully given ; and in this portion of his task the 

 author acknowledges the obligations which he is under to 

 Mrs. S. Olivia Weston-Aiken, " who cordially shared 

 with him the labour of the philological investigation." 



We are pleased to see that several etymological correc- 

 tions recently set forward by Mr. Henry Wharton are 

 adopted by Dr. Coues, who handsomely acknowledges 

 the assistance given by Mr. Wharton. The latter gentle- 

 man is well-known in this country for his researches into 

 the classical derivation of the names of birds, and he is 

 now Secretary to a Committee of the British Ornitho- 

 logists' Union, which is shortly about to issue a standard 

 list of British Birds, in which special attention will be paid 

 to the etymology of the names. 



We have also on our table an account of the Ornitho- 

 logical Results of Dr. Holub's explorations in Southern 

 Africa, written by the traveller himself, assisted by Herr 

 von Pelzeln, of the Vienna Museum. This book contains 

 a large number of illustrations, representative of bird-life 

 in Southern Africa, the woodcuts being so well executed 

 that we are able to gain a good idea of the nesting, habits, 

 and economy of many South African species in their 

 native haunts. Excellent accounts of the habits, especially 

 of the breeding of a great number of species are given, 

 and ostrich-farmers will find much that will interest them 

 in the account of the South African ostrich. Several 

 anatomical notes are dispersed throughout the volume, 

 and many good figures of skeletons are given, including 

 two plates devoted to the tongues of birds. Of the new 

 species figured Drymoica holubi (Taf. I.) is scarcely likely 

 to be really undescribed amongst the numerous Cisticote 

 of Southern Africa, and Lanius pyrrhostictus (Taf. II.) is 

 certainly only the female of L. collaris. All such works 

 as Dr. Holub's add much to our knowledge of the geo- 

 graphical distribution of birds, especially when, as in the 

 present instance, they are accompanied by a good map 

 showing the country in which the collection was made. 



Capt. Blakiston and Mr. H. Pryer have just issued a 

 revised list of the " Birds of Japan," and it forms a most 

 useful epitome of our present knowledge of the ornithology 

 of this interesting country. Three hundred and twenty-six 

 species are enumerated, notes being given on their geo- 

 graphical distribution in the different islands of Japan, 

 and it would appear from the frequent mention of dif- 



