GLEANINGS ^ 



name for such species (Mavis, Throstle, etc., under Song Thrush), 

 as well as having their place in the dictionary. In a work of this kind 

 it is, of course, inevitable that many of the statements require to be 

 modified, and others to be corrected in future editions. Thus, the name 

 Great Auk was first bestowed by Pennant in the 1768 edition of the 

 British Zoology, not in that of 1776. The Black-headed Wagtail is 

 not a form of the Yellow Wagtail. The name Schinz's Sandpiper has 

 been applied to a small race of the Dunlin as well as to Bonaparte's 

 Sandpiper. Mavis is the commonest name for the Song Thrush in 

 Scotland. The Nightingale is an annual summer visitor to Yorkshire. It 

 is scarcely correct to say that Pallas's Sand Grouse has frequently 

 visited the British Isles since 1863. The name Richardson's Skua is 

 something more than an alternative name for the Arctic Skua ; the 

 name Lestris richardsoni was bestowed upon the dark form of the 

 Arctic Skua by Swainson in the belief that it was a new species. These 

 are a few items among many that require emendation. 



Insects : Their Life Histories and Habits. By Harold Bastin. 

 London and Edinburgh : T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1913. 7s. 6d. net. 



The author of this book is to be congratulated on having produced 

 a popular account of insect life, which is much superior to many of the 

 books lately published on the same subject. While admittedly a com- 

 pilation, it is gratifying to be able to report, after a careful perusal, that 

 the work has been well done, the subjects judiciously chosen, and the 

 general treatment original and well up to date. In a little over 300 

 pages we have an eminently readable series of chapters dealing with 

 the structure, classification, instincts, and habits of insects in general, 

 giving the reader a great deal of information in the pleasantest style, 

 while the beautifully clear type used in the volume considerably adds 

 to the enjoyment of its perusal. Finally, the work, which deserves a wide 

 circulation, is embellished with no fewer than forty-six photographic 

 plates (six of them coloured), which are, on the whole, of much excellence. 

 The proofs have been carefully read, for we have detected only three or 

 four misprints. 



GLEANINGS. 



From British Birds (19 13, pp. 16-23) we extract the following notes : 

 On 4th May at least five examples of the Northern Willow-warbler 

 {Phylloscopus trochilus eversmanni) were seen by H. Witherby and 

 J. G. Gordon at the Mull of Galloway. They had all left by next day, 

 and a large number of Whitethroats had come in. Two adult male 

 examples of Barrow's Goldeneye (Nyroca islandicd) were said to 

 have been procured at Scalloway, Shetland; they were identified by 



