152 Recently published Ornithological Works. 
Mr. Hartiiig's ' Handbook ' of 1872 ^ is known to all of us. 
He has now re-issued it in a much extended form^ and illus- 
trated it by a series o£ coloured figures of the heads of the 
birds, prepared from the drawings of the late Professor 
Schlegel. We have, therefore, now before us ^. volume 
of 520 pages and 35 plates. 
As in the former work, British Birds are divided into 
two distinct categories — one containing *' residents, periodical 
migrants, and annual visitants," and the other " rare and 
accidental visitants.^^ Under the former heading are placed 
262 species, under the latter 167 — making altogether 
429 species considered as appertaining to the British Avi- 
fauna. It is, of course, in many cases difficult to decide 
whether certain species should be placed in the first or 
second of these divisions, but in most cases our author seems 
to have come to a correct decision upon this point. 
A very valuable feature in the second part of Mr. 
Harting's volume is the list of references to the records 
of the occurrences of the " rare and accidental visitors " in 
Britain. With the help of this we can find at once how 
many times any rarity that may turn up has occurred, 
where to look for an account of it, and, in many cases, where 
each individual specimen has been preserved. The Rustic 
Bunting [Emberiza rustica), for instance, has occurred three 
times in the British area {cf. p. 372) and references are 
given to the records of the three specimens. 
In his nomenclature and arrangement our author is 
delightfully conservative. " Subspecies '^ and ^' homonyms " 
are alike ignored, and the good old-fashioned names, " under- 
standed of the people," are sternly adhered to. It is really 
refreshing, in these days, to find a naturalist who objects to 
the much-adored principle of unlimited priority, and boldly 
says : — ^' The increasing practice of changing w'cll-known 
names for newdy discovered ones on the ground of priority 1 
regard as a misfortune to Science, for there is no finality in 
such a proceeding and never likely to be.^^ 
At the same time, as regards arrangement, we could not 
* See 'Ibis/ 1872, p. 94. 
