Recently published Ornithological Works . 451 
evince the same unflagging zeal and care on the part of the 
author which has characterized the earlier portion of the 
book. 
Signor Adolfo Savi has published the first volume of an 
f Ornitologia Italian a' * by his celebrated father, which on the 
latter's death was almost ready for the press, and shows that he 
laboured to the last with unabated energy in the field which 
saw some of his earliest successes more than fifty years ago \ 
for his Catalogue of the Birds of Pisa appeared in 1823. 
The force of habit may naturally account for the old-fashioned 
arrangement of the Class continued in the present work. We 
have Coracias following the Laniida, and itself followed by 
the Corrida; next to them comes the “ Tribu Corticicoli, ,s 
made up of Nucifraga and Silt a —an odd conjunction; and the 
Hirundinida are placed between Caprimulgus and Cypselus; 
while the whole volume shows an almost unquestioning faith 
in the gospel according to Temminck's f Manuel '—one of the 
most dangerous errors in which an ornithologist can indulge. 
But there is little use in criticising the adherence of veterans 
to their ancient ways. Almost all naturalists have but to live 
long enough to fall somewhat behind the age; and the vener¬ 
able professor of Pisa was no exception. Still we should be 
misleading our readers if we were to induce the belief that 
the book is entirely antiquated. Very much is it otherwise, 
and we rejoice to see the adoption in it of many new ideas, 
not the least of which is that since Italy ceased to be the 
“ geographical expression " it used to be termed, the author 
bethought him of extending his old ‘ Ornitologia Toscana' to 
an ornithology of the whole country; and the result is not 
unworthy of the regenerated nation. In his introduction 
Savi treats at some length on the method of dividing Birds 
into two great groups, Altrices and Prcecoces , first instituted 
by Prof. Sundevall in 1836, and in 1840 adopted by Bona¬ 
parte f. Much is unquestionably to be urged in favour of 
* Ornitologia Italiana, opera postuma del Prof. Comm. Paolo Savi, 
Senatore del Regno. Volume Primo. Firenze : 1873. 8vo, pp. 478. 
t Mr. Newman has lately intimated (Zool. 1874, p. 4095) that this 
notion originated with him, and was propounded to the Zoological Society 
2 i 2 
