Recently published Ornithological Works. Ill 
Herbivocula incerta (p. 246)^ Locustella minor (p. 251), ^uya 
parum-striata (p. 259), Oreopneuste affinis (p. 257), Corydalla 
kiangsinensis (p. 311), and Uragus lepidus (p. 359). Two 
new genera are instituted :—Moupinia (p. 219), type Alcippe 
pcecilotiSj Verr. j and Spel(Bornis (p. 229), type Pnoepyga 
troglodytoides, Verr. The new genera and species indicated 
in Pere David’s ^Journal de mon troisieme Voyage^ (cf. Ibis, 
1877, p. 118) are also more perfectly described. 
14. D. G. Elliot and A. Reichenow on the Ibises. 
[Review of the Ihidinse, or Subfamily of the Ibises. By D. G. Elliot. 
P. Z. S. 1877, p. 477 et seqq. 
Systematische Uebersicht der Schreitvogel (Gressores), einer nattir- 
lichen, die Ibidae, Oiconidae, Phoenicopteridae, Scopidse, Balaenicipidae iind 
Ardeidae umfassenden Ordnung. Von Dr. Ant. Reichenow. J. f. Orn. 
1877, p. 113 et seqq.'] 
There are few groups of birds which admit of more varied 
treatment as regards their classification than the Ibises. The 
characters by which each species is marked are in most cases 
so trenchant that they have been looked upon by many 
authors as of generic value; hence we find that almost as 
many generic titles have been proposed for the members of 
the family as there are species to put into them. Again, 
other writers, viewing these characters as of specific or at 
most of subgeneric value only, group the whole of the species 
under one or two genera. In the two papers now before 
us each of these two extreme views are propounded. Mr. 
Elliot is the exponent of the former, and places the 25 species 
of Ibises he recognizes in 19 genera; whilst Dr. Beichenow 
classes all under three generic heads (including Plataleo). 
As neither of these authors has done more than draw the 
characters of his genera from external sources (Mr. Elliot 
using little else than the distribution of the feathers on the 
head and neck when defining his genera), we cannot consider 
either classification by any means final, and we have yet to 
look for sound definitions of the genera of the Ibidinse. 
Of the 19 genera employed by Mr. Elliot, three are intro¬ 
duced as new. The species recently described by Dr. Oustalet 
as Ibis gigantea is called Thaumatibis gigantea. The same 
