be expected to say a last word in synonymy, and to serve a ready means for the identification of species. But their value extends over a larger field than the faunistic area in which they are centred, as many species have a wide range and their distribution is fully treated, so that in the problem of zoogeography the volumes must be shelved for consultation by the investigators of other faunas. We frequently find surprising additions in unexpected migrants. Thus, in the Petrels, our old maritime friend the "Cape Pigeon" (Daption capensis) is included on the authority of a specimen shot in the Gulf of Manaar, between Ceylon and the mainland, the skin of which is preserved in the Hume collection.
The completion of the vertebrate portion of this work should let loose some unused energy among Indian zoologists. They may now accept, and cease to too ardently criticise—for some years at least—the nomenclature of the series. We do not say that finality has been obtained; that, at least so far as specific treatment is concerned, is a question for the future, and must be based on more extensive knowledge than exists at present. But the Indian ornithologist can now estimate that his work is largely one of observation; he possesses a formula of identification that will be hard to beat, and with which he may be expected to remain content. The bionomical field is now the one to explore. Thanks to Messrs. Blanford and Oates one branch of Indian ornithology is thoroughly brought up to date, and is in line with the best current scientific conceptions. If the ubiquitous theorist can now be controlled, and observers take up the work, the volumes comprising the 'Fauna of British India' will not have been written in vain.
This is a book written by a lady, and refers to North American birds. It is a somewhat sumptuous work possessing fifty-two coloured plates, and is what may be styled an extras-cientific rather than a non-scientific volume. It is intended to promote the knowledge of birds, but is not in any sense a primer of ornithology. Just as we sometimes find a Professor of natural
