746 Recently published Ornithological Works. [Ibis, 
be there during the breeding-season, and thus found the eggs 
and nests of many of the local forms which Mr. Thomas 
Carter was unable to obtain. 
The Report of the Check-list Committee engaged in 
drawing up a new Check-list of Australian birds was also 
considered, and we are glad to observe that the List will 
probably be quite complete in time for the next annual 
gathering. 
Among the very many communications printed in,the 
present volume, we should like to specially mention one by 
Mr. R. Stuart-Sutherland, in which he reviews the Penguins, 
with special reference to the Australian species, and another 
by Mr. W. B. Alexander, who reviews the Australian species 
of Tubinares—both useful pieces of work. Mr. A. J. 
Campbell has prepared some notes on a collection of birds 
from the islands in the Torres Straits, formed by Mr. W. 
R. McLennan for the H. L. White Collection, which is now 
at Melbourne in the National Museum. The plumage 
changes of the Nankeen Night-Heron (Nycticorax cule- 
donicus) have been carefully recorded by Mr. C. F. Cole 
and are illustrated by a good coloured plate ; and Mr. R. 
Hays has written an account of the food-pellets of King¬ 
fishers, one of the most interesting consisting of the round 
calcareous concretions (“ crabs* eyes ”') found in the stomach 
walls of freshwater Crayfishes, which appear to form a con¬ 
siderable part of the diet of the Laughing Kingfisher 
(Dacelo gig as). 
A new feature of the f Emu ’ are the Reports from the 
State Secretaries, giving accounts of what is going on in 
each individual State of the great Island Continent, and 
which undoubtedly must assist in bringing the scattered 
ornithologists in closer touch with one another. 
We notice only two new forms described —Ptilotis gerald- 
tonensis Ashby, from Geraldton in Western Australia, and 
Menura superba edwardi Chisholm, from Stanthorpe in 
southern Queensland near the New South Wales border. 
This new Lyre-bird differs markedly from the other forms 
in its habits, as it lives in comparatively open country and 
the nests are placed in the clefts of giant granite boulders. 
