162 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



BOOK NOTICE. 



Field-Studies of some rarer British Birds. By John Walpole 

 Bond. Witherby & Co., London, 1914. 7s. 6d. net. 



Books relating to natural history written from intimate personal 

 knowledge and wide experience are rarce aves nowadays. Such an 

 one is the book under notice, and on these grounds alone Mr Walpole 

 Bond's studies should be welcome as a relief from the rush of works 

 on birds in particular which appear in a never-ending stream, most 

 of them containing no information of value, and often displaying lament- 

 able ignorance. The book we are dealing with, however, is one which 

 will be read with pleasure and profit by those who are interested in the 

 life of the eighteen uncommon native birds of which it treats. It is 

 based upon considerable experience, and affords in pleasant fashion 

 much useful information. Scottish naturalists should welcome the 

 excellent first-hand accounts of such birds as the Dartford Warbler, 

 Cirl Bunting, Wood-lark, Kite, and Hobby species which are not to 

 be observed in their native haunts in Northern Britain. 



NOTES. 



Badger in Dumfriesshire. It is perhaps worth recording that 

 a Badger was captured on Townfoot Moor (Closeburn) on 25th 

 May last. Hugh S. Gladstone, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. 



Increase in Cliff breeding Birds on the Isle of May. 



During our spring visit to the Isle of May this year we noticed a 

 distinct increase in the number of birds breeding on the cliffs there. 

 The most notable increase is in the case of the Herring-gull. In 

 191 1 we could only find one nest, and only saw one pair of adults, 

 the same being the case ini9i2. 1111913 more birds were about, and 

 this year we know of ten nests with eggs, and we are pretty certain 

 there are two or three more, as we saw the birds coming out over and 

 over again from the same spot, but could not see down to it, owing 

 to the overhanging rocks. Kittiwakes too are forming a new colony 

 on a part of the cliffs where they have not bred for the last twenty- 

 four years at least. Puffins are decidedly more plentiful, and we are 

 inclined to think that there is an increase of Razorbills and 



