162 Recently published Ornithological Works. [Ibis, 
The expedition stayed on Easter Island only a short time, 
and the collections thence are not so complete. There are 
said to be twelve species inhabiting the island. Of these, 
examples of six were obtained, all sea birds. Procelsterna 
ccerulea skottsbergii and Pterodroma heraldica paschce are 
described as new. 
It is interesting to note that the holy bird of the Easter 
Islands, about which Mrs. Routledge has written ( 4 The 
Mystery of Easter Island,’ London, 1919) and which is called 
locally “Manntara,” is identified by Mr. Backstrom as 
Sterna lunata Peale, while Mrs. Routledge believes it to 
be the Dusky Tern, Anous stolidus unicolor. 
McClymont' s Ornithological Essays. 
[Essays on early Ornithology and kindred subjects. By James 
R. McClymont. Pp. 1-34; 3 plates. London (Quaritch), 1920. 
Sm. 4to.] 
In this little work Mr. McClymont endeavours to identify 
the birds mentioned in some of the old travellers’ narratives, 
a fascinating task, though often difficult to bring to a 
satisfactory conclusion. His first attempt is to identify 
Marco Polo’s 44 Rukh,” a bird said to have an expanse of 
wing of thirty paces. This he frankly gives up in despair. 
The birds met with during the first voyage of Yasco da 
Gama to India are perhaps less fanciful. Penguins still 
exist on the coasts of South Africa in very considerable 
numbers, as well as seals or, rather, sea-lions (Arotocephalus 
pusillus), though the latter are stated by our author to be 
no longer denizens of those regions. A reference to the 
volume on Mammals in the 4 Fauna of South Africa’ would 
have put this matter right. Other essays deal with the 
early voyages to the Banda or Spice Islands and to Western 
Australia and New Zealand. 
We would suggest that the diving bird 44 plongeon,” met 
with by Crozet on the island, since named Marion Island, 
in the southern Indian Ocean, is the Diving Petrel, Pele- 
canoides exul , a species which is very abundant in those 
waters. 
