Page:The Auk Vol. 6 No. 3 p 269.djvu

 As already noted, Mr. Barrows's papers on the 'Birds of the Lower Uruguay,' published a few years since in this journal, are freely cited, but unfortunately his species are not always correctly synonymized by our authors—a mistake in most cases excusable, since there is generally no clew, except the name, to the species really meant. Having recently had in hand many of Mr. Barrows's specimens of the more difficult groups, it may be well, in the interest of future writers, to correctly allocate some of Mr. Barrows's species thus misplaced in the 'Argentine Ornithology.'


 * Cyclorhis viridis Barrows is naturally placed (Vol. I, p. 24) under C. altirostris Salv. [=C. viridis (Vieill.)], but Mr. Barrows's specimens prove to be true C. ochrocephala.


 * Elainea albiceps Barrows is Empidagra suiriri (Vieill.), and thus of course is naturally but wrongly placed (Vol. I, p. 145) under E. albiceps (d'Orb. and Lafr.), which is Mr. Barrows's E. modesta.


 * Leptasthenura ægithaloides Barrows is L. platensis Reich., a form Mr. Sclater doubtless does not admit. Mr. Barrows's specimens, however, represent a bird very different from the true L. ægithaloides of Chili.


 * Phacellodomus ruber Barrows proves, on comparison of Barrows's specimens with Lafresnaye's types, to be the true P. striaticollis (d'Orb. and Lafr.).

It is but fair to say that actual errors in the identification of Mr. Barrows's species are chargeable either to myself or to Dr. Burmeister, whose opinions Mr. Barrows accepted (cf. Auk, I, p. 319).—J. A. A.

Gould's 'Birds of New Guinea.' — In 1871 the late Mr. John Gould began the publication of a work in five volumes folio, on the Birds of New Guinea and adjacent islands, to be issued in twenty-five parts. At the time of Mr. Gould's death, in 1873, only twelve of the parts had been issued, the thirteen remaining parts having been prepared by Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, the eminent ornithologist in charge of the Department of Birds at the British Museum. The work contains 320 plates, in the excellent style of Gould's other well-known large folio works on the Birds of Asia, Australia, Great Britain, etc. The 'Introduction,' by Mr. Sharpe, gives a historical summary of ornithological exploration in New Guinea and the Papuasian Islands. The few Australian birds included, form, as it were, a further supplement to his 'Birds of Australia.' A page of letter press accompanies each plate, describing the species figured, and giving a short sketch of its history. The many birds of gorgeous plumage inhabiting New Guinea and neighboring Islands—as the numerous species of Parrots, Birds of Paradise, and Fruit Pigeons—furnish wonderfully striking subjects for illustration. To say that the work is in Gould's well-known style sufficiently indicates the high character of this magnificent contribution to ornithology.—J. A. A.