126 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



around whose nesting haunts and eggs little or nothing was known 

 when Wolley embarked upon his adventurous and arduous ex- 

 peditions to northern Europe in search of reliable information 

 regarding them. Fortunately, and thanks to his enthusiasm and 

 indomitable industry, many triumphs were achieved, and these are 

 related in the " Ootheca " in the delightfully simple words in which 

 he recorded them in his field-books ere the flush of success had 

 passed away. Those who have not made a study of the 

 literature relating to the nidification of our British birds are un- 

 aware how much John Wolley contributed towards the making ot 

 the history of quite a remarkable number of our rarer and more 

 interesting species. It is a book whose freshness will never fade, 

 while its historical associations will secure for it a permanent place 

 among the classics of ornithological literature. 



o o 



A series of appendices are devoted to reprints of Mr. Wolley's 

 other contributions to Natural History. These are of an interesting 

 and varied nature, and many of them relate to Scottish subjects. 



THE AQUATIC BIRDS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. By 

 Charles J. Patten, M.A., M.D., Sc.D. With many illustrations. 

 London : R. H. Porter, 1906. Price 305. net. 



Prof. Patten has good claims to be the author of such a work as 

 the one under notice. He has devoted over twenty years to the 

 study of his subject, and being a field observer of the best type has 

 made himself familiar with most of the species either in their native 

 swamps and marshes, or on our shores and mud-flats during the 

 periods of passage or in winter. The first-hand information thus 

 acquired has enabled him to add to our knowledge and to introduce 

 into his book that strong personal element which never fails to be 

 appreciated, and which renders such works of special value and, 

 needless to say, adds immensely to their attractiveness. 



The species dealt with in this volume, which contains over 600 

 pages, are the Cormorants, Gannet, Herons, Ducks, Geese, Pigeons, 

 Game-birds, Rails, Crakes, Bustards, Plovers, Snipe, Gulls, Terns, 

 Skuas, Guillemots, etc., and Petrels. It will be noted, however, that 

 a few of the groups included are eminently terrestrial, but Prof. 

 Patten pleads that it is inadvisable, from the systematic standpoint, 

 to omit the species which happen to resort to dry situations : a plea 

 which hardly applies to whole Orders such as the pigeons, for 

 instance. An excellent feature of the book is the systematic arrange- 

 ment of its subject matter, which renders it possible to at once find 

 the precise information wanted concerning any species. Thus we 

 have for each species and under definite headings, sections devoted to 

 food, flight, voice, geographical distribution, descriptive characters 

 (including all stages of plumage), and average dimensions. The book 

 throughout bears evidence of having been prepared with the greatest 

 care ; it affords much original and interesting information, and is an 



