34 



THE NIDIOLOGIST 



Mivart; 0» the Skeleton of Loriiis Jlavopalliatus 

 compareii 'li'it/i that of Psiltactis erithaciis. Part I. A 

 former paper connected with tliis subject has already 

 been reviewed by me in the Nidiologist for Octo- 

 ber. iSg5 (p. 23). In the present memoir Professor 

 Mivart continues his work along the same lines. 

 Here, however, comparisons are confined to the oste- 

 ology of the two species mentioned in the title. In 

 this part (I) neither the sUuUs nor the appendicular 

 skeleton have been dealt with, and consequently no 

 conclusions are as yet given upon the probable rela- 

 tions of the species. Twenty-two excellent woodcuts 

 illustrate the te.xt, and the comparisons instituted of 

 the characters are very full and clear. This is a highly 

 important study Professor Mivart has undertaken, and 

 one of the greatest interest to all Ornithologists; and, 

 it having fallen under so competent a hand, when the 

 final results come to be set forth, they will doubtless 

 throw no little light upon the relations and interrela- 

 tions of the Parrots and their allies, a group that pre- 

 eminently stands in need of this very kind of treatment. 

 As he truly remarks; " The admirable works of Pro- 

 fessor Alp'honse Milne-Edwards on the Fossil Birds 

 of France and on the Osteology of the Psiitaci do not 

 contain figures or descriptions of any species of Lo- 

 riiilcT, and the same must be said of Bronn's Thier- 

 reich, and (with a quite insignificant exception) of Fiir- 

 bringer's magnificent publication in two folio volumes." 

 Of course, it is well known that Garrod made a great 

 many dissections of Parrots, and formally classified 

 the " Order Psittaci," but it is equally well known, 

 and becoming more and more appreciated every year 

 that goes by, that Garrod based his opinions upon the 

 comparisons of altogether too few characters, and con- 

 sequently less and less weight is being attached to the 

 results he arrived at, and the taxonomies he proposed 

 at various times for birds. R. VV. S. 



Chapma.n: On Further Notes on Trinidad Birds, etc. 

 This is a brief article, wherein its author presents the 

 Ornithological results of his second visit to Trinidad, 

 made during March and April, 1894. A new species 

 of Syiiallixxis is described, for which the name 5. carri 

 is proposed, and the numerous field notes and obser- 

 vations upon other birds will be sure to prove of value 

 to those interested in the Ornithology of Trinidad, a 

 field over which so much light has been thrown by 

 both Mr. Brewster and Mr. Chapman. R. W. S. 



Mr. Hoyle's Report of the Manchester Museum, 

 Omens College (England), is a very interesting one, 

 indeed, and apparently a very complete one. Of the 

 Ornithological department he says: "A beginninghas 

 been made with the arrangement and labeling of the 

 collection of birds. The number of stuffed skins in 

 the collection is very large, much larger than can be 

 accommodated in the present cases; but many of the 

 specimens are in a very unsatisfactory condition, and 

 of some, even of the commoner forms, there are no 

 e.xamples which are in a fit state for exhibition. Ar- 

 rangements have been made with Mr. Ogilvie Grant, 

 of the British Museum, to name the greater part of 

 the collection, and many hundred specimens have now 

 passed through his hands. These are now being ar- 

 ranged in systematic order, and provided with labels 

 for the individual species, and also with descriptive 

 labels for the families." We have, Mr. Hoyle, a great 

 many museums on this side of the water standing in 

 the same case; we wish you all success in the under- 

 taking, and let the good work go on. R. W. S. 



In the October number of The Auk (i8g5) are to be 

 found numerous contributions of value and of wide 

 and general interest to Ornithologists. Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway has the leading article. On Fisher's Petrel 



(Aistrellata fisheri), which is illustrated by the colored 

 frontispiece plate of a specimen of the bird — a very 

 e-xcellent figure. It is "with the view to bringing 

 this rare and little known bird prominently to the at- 

 tention of Ornithological collectors, as well as to make 

 its identification more easy, that this paper makes its 

 appearance at this time, and ' notwithstanding more 

 attention has been paid during recent years to the 

 collecting of specimens of the Procellaruda, no ad- 

 ditional information has yet been acquired concerning 

 ALstrellala fisheri, described more than twelve years 

 ago from a single specimen obtained in the harbor of 

 Kadiak Island "on June i; 1S82, by Mr. William J. 

 Fisher, at that time Unitea States Tidal Observer at 

 that station." Full descriptions of the species follow, 

 as well as many references to the literature of the 

 subject, including synonomy. By the use of topo- 

 graphical characters .-£. fisheri is compared with AL. 

 defilippiana, and the two species are considered by 

 Mr. Ridgwav to be very distinct, as are also AL. fisheri 

 and jtE. gularis (Peale's Petrel), the only other known 

 form that comes at all near it. 



Doctor Coues, in a very elaborate article of twenty- 

 three pages, reviews Gatke's Heligoland; the latter a 

 masterwork in Ornithology, and the review a most 

 skillful effort on the part of a consummatj master of 

 that science. It w'ill bear the most careful reading 

 and thought, as the arrangement of the subject-matter 

 is admirable, being one of the very best contributions 

 that has graced the pages of The Aiikiox many a day. 

 Mr. A. W. Anthony describes "New Races of Co- 

 laptes and Passerella from the Pacific Coast," and Mr. 

 Widman has an article on " The Brown Creeper Nest- 

 ing in the Cypress Swamp of Southeastern Missouri," 

 both being interesting sketches. A faunal contribu- 

 tion is given by Mr. Cox, entitled "A Collection of 

 Birds from Mount Orizaba, Mexico," it being a list of 

 twenty-eight species and subspecies, with notes there- 

 on. A letter written by one John L. Gardiner to 

 Alexander Wilson is published for us by Mr. Sage, 

 and, as a bit of history, so important a document is 

 more than worthy of fireservation. Mr. Arthur T. 

 Wayne tells us something about Florida birds from 

 the regions of the Wacissa and Aucilla Rivers; while 

 in two other articles several new avian forms are de- 

 scribed by Mr. Charles W. Richmond and F. Stephens. 

 The departments devoted to " Recent Literature," 

 " General Notes," etc., etc., are as full as usual, and 

 will well repay the perusal of Ornithologists. This 

 issue of The Aiik presents an " Index," as well as the 

 classified "Contents" of Volume XII, of which it is 

 the last number. R. W. S. 



There has just appeared at Washington, D. C, a 

 very dressy little monthly magazine of octavo form, 

 known as The Feather, it being " A National Journal 

 devoted to Poultry, Pigeons, Birds, etc.," issued 

 under the editorial management of Mr. George E. 

 Howard. It is a remarkably well gotten up serial, 

 with excellent illustrations, good paper, fine typo- 

 graphical work, and in every way worthy of the field 

 it has no doubt come to occupy for a long time. Al- 

 though containing matter of interest principally to 

 breeders of Fowls and Pigeons, it yet nevertheless es- 

 says likewise to print articles upon popular Orni- 

 thology, including the care of cage birds and other 

 feathered pets. Quite an interesting article on the 

 Mockingbird is contributed to this number, with a 

 briefer one on " Collecting Rare Eggs." The fact 

 that such a magazine as The Feather is to be published 

 in Washington is something of an event. In a city 

 where are to be found so many enormous libraries; 

 great museums filled to overflowing with scientific col- 

 lections of the very class of specimens the Ornitholo- 



