Recent Ornithological Publications. 117 
only occasionally (that is, in some particular groups or species) 
ossified, even in adult birds. A plate containing seventeen 
figures accompanies the paper, and we must especially recommend 
to our readers* notice the beautiful execution of them. They 
quite put to shame any osteological figures we have lately seen 
produced in this country; and it is only fair that we should 
mention that the artist’s name is P. W. van der Weyer of Utrecht. 
A singular mistake, however, is made in one point: “ Pig. 15 ** 
represents, and that very accurately, the anterior portion of the 
sternum of Grus cinerea —not Cygnus musicus , as stated in the 
article (page 16) and in the explanation of the plate. 
Professor SchlegePs monograph of the Kingfishers of the 
Dutch Indies * is a meritorious work. The text is, unfortunately, 
though naturally, in Dutch; but a “ Revue Synoptique** in 
French of the species mentioned is added. This is in a great mea¬ 
sure taken from the author* s catalogue of Alcedines in the Leyden 
Museum, already noticed in ‘The Ibis* (1864, pp. 124, 125). 
An important feature of the book is the profuseness of its illustra¬ 
tions. Of the nine and thirty species of Alcedinidce which, 
according to Prof. Schlegel*s computation, are found in the 
eastern possessions of the King of the Netherlands, all but two 
are figured, and some of them six or seven times,—though it 
must be remembered that the “ species ** to which this honour is 
accorded are, in the estimation of most ornithologists, capable and 
deserving of differentiation far more than our author will allow— 
as, for instance, Tanysiptera dea , which is made to include at least 
four other forms which have been characterized as separate 
species. 
We cannot understand why there is so little in common 
between English naturalists and the English public. It scarcely 
ever happens that a professedly popular work on natural history, 
published in this country, is not full of blunders more or less 
ridiculous, the reason being of course that the author is not equal 
* De Vogels van Nederlandsch Indie, beschreven en afgebeeld door H. 
Schlegel. Haarlem : 1864. 4to. 
