96 Recently published Ornithological Works. 
from being satisfactory.” Again, Steller’s Eider is considered 
to have “ very slender claims to be regarded as a British 
bird;” and even the record of the Filey-Brigg one is only 
admitted in a cold way as ee probable,” because strag¬ 
glers have occurred at Heligoland, although the species is 
known to be an annual winter visitor to Norwegian waters, 
and the specimen in question is in the possession of Lord 
Scarsdale, the brother of its fortunate captor. 
Our remarks have extended to greater length than we in¬ 
tended, and yet there is much more that might be said. We 
are sure that Mr. Seebohm, who has been so unsparing in 
his criticisms of others, will receive these mildly-worded com¬ 
ments in the same good-humoured manner as they are penned, 
for there would be no pleasure in bowls if they were not 
associated with rubs. 
27. Sharpe and Wyatt on the Hirundinidre. 
[A Monograph of the Hirundinidae, or Family of Swallows. By R. 
Bowdler Sharpe and Claude W. Wyatt. Part I. September, 1885. 
London : Sotheran & Co.] 
We welcome with pleasure the first number of a new 
monograph proceeding from the joint labours of two members 
of the B. O. U. With Mr. Sharpe, we believe, the Swallows 
have long been a favourite group, and have lately been the 
subject of special study for the tenth volume of the Catalogue 
of the Birds in the British Museum. Mr. Wyatt is, as will 
be universally acknowledged, clever with his pencil; and 
though his pictures may not quite come up to the standard of 
the best ornithological draughtsmen of the present day, they 
are certainly nicely designed and sufficiently well coloured 
for all practical purposes. 
The present number contains figures of Hirundo semirvfa , 
H. leucosoma , H. lucida, H. angolensis, Psalidoprocne obscura, 
and Hirundo striolata, all ^Ethiopian species, except the last, 
of which the letterpress is not yet given. We venture to 
think our friends should not place too much reliance on the 
localities given in Bochebrune’s f Birds of Senegambia/ 
which we see quoted in several places, for, as we have already 
