60 
ZOOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 
rous^ and have so often been penned without his having the 
opportunity of consulting museums or books that a thorough 
revision of them is required. It follows of course that a very 
large number of species described by the author are now, and 
will be, identified with those described by other ornithologists. 
The present paper contains part of the Fringillid(B and PloceidcB. 
Layard, Edgar Leopold. The Birds of South Africa. A de- 
scriptive Catalogue of all the known Species occurring South 
of the 28th Parallel of South Latitude. Cape Town and 
London : 1867. 8vo, pp. 382. 
The first work published professing to give a complete account 
of the ornithology of South Africa must needs be an important 
one. On the other hand, so scattered are the materials from 
which alone it is possible to compile such a work that it must 
needs have many defects. Some of these defects in the work 
before us are patent on the most cursory inspection of it, and 
they may not unnaturally lower its value in the eyes of experts. 
But the naturalist who can appreciate at their proper rate even 
somewhat serious errors of typography and a general amount of 
irregularity in the arrangement of details, will find much instruc- 
tion in Mr. Layard^s work, and feel thankful to its author. The 
design of the book is excellent ; and if its execution somewhat 
fails, a practical naturalist will be disposed to make every allow- 
ance for the difficulties thereto belonging. Theoretically each 
species of the 702 hitherto recorded as having been found within 
the limits laid down by the author is diagnostically described, after 
a short and, we must add, often an imperfeet, list of synonyms. 
Then follows a succinct account of its habits, generally from the 
observation of the author or one of his numerous friends, or, 
where such information was not available, from already published 
sources. Where the former obtains, the result is most satisfac- 
tory. The arrangement, and in great measure the nomenclature, 
of Mr. G. R. Gray^s ^ Genera of Birds^ is followed ; and the volume 
is supplied with a sufficiently good index. The chief faults of the 
work, in our opinion, are the number of species included in it 
for the occurrence of which in the colony there is little if any 
good show of reason. Next to this is a scantiness of reference 
to original authorities, and (as confessed by the author in his 
preface) an unconneetedness, or, we would say, a want of unifor- 
mity, in the treatment of the different species. But with all these 
drawbacks, the work is one of great utility, and evinces a great 
amount of labour bestowed on its production. In future every 
student of South- African ornithology will have to refer to it j and 
its effects on the pursuit of the science at the Cape will doubtless 
be as important as those produced in their respective spheres by 
Dr. Jerdon^s ^ Birds of India ^ and Mr. Gould^s ^Handbook to 
the Birds of Australia.^ One species, belonging to Motacih 
