4 3 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



BOOK NOTICE. 



Report on the Immigration of Summer Residents in the Spring 

 of 1912 : also Notes on the Migratory Movements During 

 THE AUTUMN OF 191 i. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. xxxii., 6s. net. 



This Report, which is the eighth published by the Committee 

 appointed by the British Ornithologist's Club, again contains much 

 valuable information. It is compiled on the same lines as those 

 recently issued, and will be found of interest to all ornithologists, more 

 particularly those whose special study is migration. The data given on 

 summer residents in England are quite as valuable and interesting as 

 heretofore, but we notice one serious blunder in this section. On 

 page 152, under Little Tern, the Committee state that, " On comparing the 

 records of the two species of Terns i.e. Common and Little it is obvious 

 that they are unsatisfactory"; this is no doubt true, but the unsatis- 

 factoriness is further increased by the chronological summaries of the 

 two species being hopelessly muddled. All the Scottish February 

 records given under Little Tern should, by rights, be under Common 

 Tern, and of the other notes many under Little Tern refer to the 

 Common Tern, and those under Common Tern belong largely to the 

 smaller species. Rather misleading statements are made regarding 

 the dates of appearance of spring migrants in Scotland, due, no doubt, 

 to the very limited data at the disposal of the authors; for instance, on 

 page 67, under Garden-warbler, we read : " As the result of these 

 immigrations an increase in the number of birds throughout the 

 country became apparent, particularly in the northern counties, 

 Scotland being reached on the 12th and 14th" (May); from which one 

 would conclude that these are the first dates on which this species 

 was recorded in Scotland; this, however, is not the case, the first having 

 been reported on 29th April. Turning to the autumn notes, we here 

 find much that is of value, and the isolated records, chiefly taken from 

 current literature, contain reports of many uncommon visitors as well 

 as interesting notes on commoner species. The Scottish autumn 

 records are again almost entirely taken from the Scottish Naturalist 

 and the Report on Scottish Ornithology, and here also we must notice 

 the inaccuracies which disfigure them; in this section alone, no fewer 

 than twenty-two mistakes have obtruded themselves on our notice, 

 these being chiefly errors in dates. As a Report such as this is largely 

 a work for reference, and as such most, if not all, its value lies in its 

 accuracy, it is a thousand pities that more care has not been taken to 

 avoid the recurrence of these perfectly preventable mistakes. We 

 fully realise the difficulties which beset those who compile migration 

 reports, and the labour involved in getting together so much informa- 

 tion ; we wish the Committee continued success, and look forward 

 with the greatest interest to their future publications. E. V. B. and 

 L. J. R. 



