24 JULY 1909, Page 22

A Polyglot List of Birds in Turki, Manchu, and Chinese.

By E. Denison Ross, Ph.D. (The Asiatic Society, 57 Park Street, Calcutta. 6s.)—We are glad to bring to the notice of ornitholo- gists with knowledge of the East a very interesting addition to the Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. It is based chiefly on a manuscript in the British Museum, which translates the whole of the vocabulary of the Manchu-Chinese " Mirror " (the great Chinese dictionary published in 1771) into five languages. Under each bird's name Dr. Ross gives its English identifica- tion wherever possible. Some of the onomatopoeic names are interesting. " Qara kakkuk," for instance, is Turki for cuckoo, and "Dudu" is Manchu for wild pigeon.