326 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



the grey lower back, but there can be no doubt that Pigeons 

 are so frequently domesticated and have such a power 

 of flight that they must often defeat the endeavours of the 

 most skilful " splitter/^ 



Pigeons in India, though hardly considered as game- 

 birds, are frequently sought after by sportsmen, and it 

 requires pretty good shooting to make a good bag of Green 

 Pigeon. 



We must congratulate both author and publisher on the 

 appearance of this fine work, which should be on the shelves 

 of every Indian sportsman and naturalist. 



Brasil on Shore and Sea Birds. 



[Les oiseaux d'eau, de rivage et de marais de France, de Belgique et 

 des lies Britanniques, par L. Brasil, Professeur a la Facult6 des sciences 

 de Caen. Pp. 1-339, 142 figures. Paris (Bailliere), 1914. 8vo. 

 Prix 6 Fr.] 



The first object of this little book is to enable sportsmen 

 and others to identify any strange birds which they may 

 meet with ; and to this end very full dichotomous keys are 

 given, in which the more conspicuous external characters of 

 the birds are made use of. M. Brasil also hopes that his 

 work may perhaps stimulate the interest of the French 

 nation in ornithology and the study of birds. Formerly 

 this interesta^ was widespread, and there were many profes- 

 sional and amateur ornithologists in France, but this can 

 hardly be said to be the case at present. 



The nomenclature followed is generally that of Hartert 

 and the other authors of the Hand-list, but we observe that 

 the author cannot bring himself to call the Mallard Anas 

 platyrhynchos or the Crane Megalornis grus, though he 

 attributes the Grebes to Colymbus, which, however, does 

 not date from Brisson 1760, but from the 1758 edition of 

 Linnseus. 



The text is illustrated with a number of figures showing 

 generic characters derived from beaks and feet, as well as 

 reproductions from the well-known and artistic drawings of 

 Kuhnert. 



