20 THE RETROSPECT. 



more than two hundred and sixty-one species of birds would have been recorded, 

 Mr. Watters has done good service to the cause of science, by giving as it 

 were, an abstract of what is known at present of the Irish birds, and we 

 sincerely hope that the perusal of his book, may induce many to enter more 

 at large into the subject. 



The author does not give descriptions of the birds, but many interesting 

 accounts and anecdotes of their habits are given; Mr. Watters is an out-of- 

 door Naturalist, and supplied many facts as to various birds to the late W. 

 Thompson, Esq., of Belfast, which appear in his valuable work on the same 

 subject as the book now before us. We give one or two short extracts taken 

 at random as specimens of the style of the work. Speaking of the nesting 

 of the Curlew, he says — 



"On some barren and desolate moor, tenanted by the Grouse, Moor Harrier, and Lizard, 

 the Curlew prepares an artless nest on the ground, in a dry tuft of grass or rushes, lined with 

 withered herbage. Sometimes it is formed in a natural hollow or depression, smoothed by the 

 bird, and lined with leaves, where the eggs are deposited, four in number, of a pale green, 

 blotched with brown. During the breeding st)ason, these solitarj^ tracts frequented by the Curlew 

 appear replete with animation. From early dawn to the last hour of twilight, their incessant 

 screaming and repeated motion afford a relief to the otherwise changeless and dull monotony 

 of the scene; on the nest being approached, the male and female assail the obnoxious intruder 

 with noisy screams, beating at him with quivering wings, and, that failing, run and skulk 

 before, in hopes of decoying and deluding him." 



One more extract of a somewhat different character. A tame Spoonbill is a 

 novelty, certainly a rarity in this country, so we give Mr. Watters' account 

 of his behaviour when domesticated, 



"A male bird at one time in the possession of an ornithological friend, became so familiar 

 as to proceed upstairs and enter the break fast -room regularly during meal hours, and appropriate 

 to itself, at all seasons, the hearth-rug, where it would nestle down and enjoy the wamith of 

 the fire. Having at one time been scalded by accident, it ever after evinced the utmost horror 

 of the tea-urn, — rising quickly from its resting position, and walking away indignantly, not 

 returning until the enemy had been displaced, when it resumed its position. If annoyed by 

 young children, it walked quickly round the room, and selected an unoccupied chair, if at a 

 distance" from the wall, and, perching upon it, would take bread from the hand, or bread and 

 milk in a tea-cup. Its usual resting-place was the top of a pump in the centre of an out- 

 yard, on which perch it would often remain motionless for hours." 



We should be glad to find that this little book had an extensive circulation, 

 and that another edition of it was required. This could not take place without 

 much good being effected. 



€\}i IUtrD3|itrt. 



I 'perceive in the "Retrospect" of "The Natm-alist," for the last month, some remarks by 

 Mr. Stephen Clogg, of East Looc, in Cornwall, upon my article on the "Wagtails," which I 

 will endeavour to answer, only premising, that, as no Naturalist, but an observer of Nature 

 only, I feel considerable diffidence in entering on the discussion. He states that the Motacilla 

 alba, is not the Pied Wagtail, on this head I will only refer him to Linnaeus, Latham, 

 Ray, Gilbert White, and Bewick, and especially to the History of Selborne; Mr. Bennett in 

 his Edition of 1837, takes no notice by way of note or otherwise, of there being more than 

 three kinds of this bird, and I take the word alba, as merely contradistinguished from Jlava, 



