November, 1900.] 251 



THE BIRDS OF IRKI.ANDJ 



BY C. B. MOFFAT. 



The completion of Mr. Ussher's long-expected work is an 

 event to be hailed with universal satisfaction. The ornitho- 

 logists ol this counto^ now possess a manual of which it is 

 impossible not to feel proud, embodying as it does an account 

 of our avifauna so comprehensive and thorough as to be 

 literally beyond praise. The work to which Mr. Ussher has 

 devoted so many 3^ears of patient toil is worthy of him in every 

 respect. Besides bringing our knowledge fully up to date as 

 regards the distribution of birds in our own island, it is a 

 valuable contribution to general British ornithology, and the 

 more closely it is studied the better it will be prized. 



In speaking of the volume as Mr. Ussher's, it is not meant to 

 ignore the important aid given by his colleague in the author- 

 ship, Mr. Robert Warren. Mr. Warren, besides writing a 

 number of the articles, has contributed enough from his great 

 store of personal observations on birds to considerably enrich 

 the book. But it is at the same time well known that the work 

 is substantially Mr. Ussher's, and that to him we are primarily 

 indebted for the accumulation and arrangement of the vast 

 mass of materials which are here presented to the student with 

 such mature judgment and such scrupulous care. 



The book opens with a preface in which the authors state 

 briefly their object and plan, paying a well-deserved tribute to 

 the memor}^ of their distinguished predecessor, Thompson, 

 whose work^ though long out of print, contains so much 

 original information that it can never cease to be a standard. 

 The preface is followed by an introduction, treating of the 

 striking features of Irish ornithology, and noting the principal 

 changes which have taken place in it of late years. Then 

 comes a very carefully prepared table, showing the distribution 

 of our breeding birds in counties. Mr. Ussher takes the 



^ The Birds of Ireland, an Account of the Distribution, 

 lYllg:ratlon, and Habits of Birds as observed in Ireland, 

 with all additions to the Irish list; by Richard J. Ussher 

 and Robert Warren. Including an Introduction and Tables 

 showing the Distribution of Birds in the Breeding Season. With 

 a coloured Plate, Maps, and other illustrations ; pp. xxxii. + 419. 

 ;^i los. lyondon : Gurney & Jackson, 1900. 



A 



