io8 The Irish Naturalist. [April, 



E. officiiialis that the Castle Ta5^1or plant was not recorded 

 with the dignity of a new Irish species or sub-species some 

 36 years ago ; and that the plant was finally published in 

 Cybelt Hibcniica as E. ciiprea rather than as E. Salisbiirgensis 

 was due to M. Boreau's refinement on Mr. More's diagnosis. 

 He who records the segregate necessarily records the aggregate, 

 and the relation between E. ciip7'ea and E. Salisburgensis is that 

 of segregate and aggregate. 



The Irish distribution of E. Salisburgensis appears to be 

 exclusively low-level. The stations Inishmore (Aran), Castle 

 Taylor, I^ough Mask, lyough Corrib (Menlough) and Bally- 

 vaughan, all lie within 100 feet of sea-level, and if further 

 observation should show that it occurs, as Newbould suspected 

 it did, on the shores of Lough Neagh, then its descent to a 

 level of 50 feet would be established. 



BIRD MIGRATION. 



The iviigratfon of Birds: a Consideration of Herr Gatke's 



views. By F. B. Whiti^ock, London; R. H. Porter, 1897. Pp. 140, 

 Price 3^. ^d. nett. 



This is a remarkably incisive criticism of some of the theories put 

 forward in Herr Gatke's celebrated work " Die Vogelwarte Helgoland," 

 on the ever-fascinating subject of Bird Migration. Particularly, our 

 author dissents from Herr Gatke's views as to the direction, altitude, 

 and velocity of the migration-flight; and on each of these three subjects 

 he certainly scores some telling points against the distinguished Heligo- 

 lander. By far the most interesting part of Mr. Whitlock's book is that 

 dealing with the " Direction of the migration flight ; " and though a 

 distinction must be drawn between the question with which, at the 

 outset, he proposes to deal, and that to which, in effect, almost the 

 whole of his reasoning is devoted, the chapter bearing this heading is 

 beyond doubt a masterly examination of Herr Gatke's leading idea — the 

 idea of a " broad migration column," advancing along an " undeviating '» 

 route, which is conceived to lie either due north and south, or (in many 

 cases) due east and west, between limits corresponding in the former case 

 to the longitudinal, and in the latter to the latitudinal, extent of the 

 breeding area. Our author takes in detail five species — the Hooded 

 Crow (pp. 13-21), Honey Buzzard (pp. 21-24), Shore Lark (pp. 24-29), 

 Yellow-browed Warbler (pp. 29-32), and Richard's Pipit (pp. 32-34), all 

 supposed by Herr Giltke to pursue the undeviating east- and- west 

 route — and successfully shows that in every one of these instances the 

 theory of the " broad front " lands its propounder in some absurdity. 



