102 Recently published Ornithological Works. 
having been indebted to the kindness of Lord Tweeddale for 
the opportunity of examining a series of five specimens of this 
birdj I was struck with the considerable prolongation of the 
hooked point of the upper mandible_, which appeared to me 
to be proportionally greater than in the other species of this 
genus. In one of these specimens this prolongation was so 
remarkable as to remind me of the similar but still more 
marked curvature and prolongation of the upper mandible 
in Leptodon uncinatus of tropical America. 
Of the remaining species of the genus Spilornis {S. holo- 
spilus, S. rufipectus, and sulaensis), I have nothing to add 
to Mr. Sharpens remarks^ except to observe that it seems to 
me that S. sulaensis should,, at most, be regarded only as a 
subspecies of S. rufipectus^ from which, judging by. the speci¬ 
mens of both preserved in the Norwich Museum, it only 
differs, either in its immature or in its adult stage, by its 
slightly smaller dimensions. 
[To be continued.] 
Nlll.—Notices of recent Ornithological Publications. 
1. ^ Transactions ’ of the New-Zealand Institute. 
Volume nine of the ^ Transactions and Proceedings of the 
New-Zealand Institute,^ which we have just received, contains 
the following five ornithological papers by Dr. Buller:— 
(1) On the Ornithology of New Zealand,^^ p. 327. [Con¬ 
tains notes on various species, and adds Diomedea cauta, 
Gould, to the New-Zealand list.] 
(2) On the Occurrence of the Royal Spoonbill {Platalea 
regia) p. 337. [Adds this Australian Spoonbill to the list.] 
(3) Observations on a Species of Shag inhabiting Queen- 
Charlotte Sound.^'’ [Relates to Phalacrocorax finschi, lately 
described by Mr. Sharpe.] 
(4) On a Tendency to Deformity in the Bill of Nestor 
meridionalisi'' 
(5) On the Alleged Intercrossing of Ocydromus earli and 
the Domestic FowL^^ 
