1924. Reviews. 55 



REVIEWS. 



Isle of Man Birds. 



Supplementary Notes to " The Birds of the Isle of Man." By P. G. 

 Ralfe, M.B.O.U. Edinburgh : Douglas and Foulis, 1923. 



Mr. Ralfe's " Birds of the Isle of Man," to which this supplement now 

 appears, was published, in 1905 ; and it is evident from the amount of 

 additional matter in the " Supplementary Notes " now issued that the 

 naturalists of the island have been far from idle within the past twenty 

 years. Eight species that were either unrecorded or included with some 

 doubt in 1905 — the Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat, Yellow Wagtail, 

 Tree Pipit, Carrion Crow, Hen Harrier, Honey Buzzard, and Pink-footed 

 Goose — are now definitely placed in the Manx list ; and though most 

 of these have only been enrolled as occasional visitors the Lesser 

 Whitethroat has been ascertained to breed, while in at least one instance 

 (and another of the same kind had been previously reported) a female 

 Carrion Crow is known to have paired with a male of the resident 

 Hooded species. Proof has also been obtained of the breeding of the 

 Short-eared Owl, Woodcock, Common Sandpiper, Common Tern, and 

 Great Black-backed Gull, bringing up the total number of species known 

 to have nested in the island to 98, while the non -breeders consist of 48 

 regular and 45 occasional visitants, making altogether a total of 191 

 species. For an island whose area is somewhat less than two-thirds 

 of that of County Dublin this is a very creditable record. 



None of the species that make up Mr. Ralfe's full number is an 

 absentee from the Irish list ; but the Isle of Man is ahead of Ireland 

 in having proof of the breeding of the Lesser Whitethroat and of the 

 Short-eared Owl. On the other hand, it seems doubtful whether our 

 Irish forms of either the Coal Tit or the Dipper (the island possesses 

 no Jays) are represented in the Manx fauna. The only Coal Tits that 

 have been examined belong to the British (which is also the Ulster) form, 

 while of three Manx Dippers that have been compared with sets from 

 the Irish National Museum and the Museum of Liverpool Mr. Ralfe 

 considers that two resemble British specimens and the third is more 

 similar to the Irish. Mr. Witherby, however, hesitates to refer this 

 example definitely to either form. The recent opening of a Museum 

 in Douglas should give an excellent stimulus to further investigation 

 on these and similar points, so far as this can be carried on without 

 unnecessary destruction ; but this last is undoubtedly a most important 

 proviso — the Dipper, for instance, being a much rarer bird in the island 

 than the character of the Manx streams would lead one to expect. 



The supplement is illustrated with a considerable number of good 

 photographs, showing Manx nesting-places of some of the most 

 mteresting birds. We notice that the plate showing a Chough's nest 

 IS from a photograph taken by Mr. Athole Harrison. 



C. B. M 



