4 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



A few words must be added relating to Dresser's genial 

 disposition. The writer, who had the privilege of being one 

 of his intimate friends for thirty-five years, finds it impossible 

 to speak in terms too high of his singularly amiable 

 disposition. He was always the personification of good 

 nature, and ever wishful to help those who sought his aid, 

 and they were many. The loss of such a man leaves an 

 irreparable breach in many friendships. His great work, 

 however, remains, and will assuredly have a high place among 

 the classics of ornithology for all time. 



Hill Birds of Scotland. By Seton Gordon, F.Z.S., etc. With 

 Illustrations. London: Edward Arnold, 1915. Price12s.6d.net. 



Under this title Mr Seton Gordon relates many interesting incidents 

 in bird-life which have come under his notice during his rambles over 

 our Scottish mountains, gives some prettily written descriptions of 

 scenery, and narrates a number of Highland legends. Though much 

 that he has written has already appeared in print, these sketches make 

 a volume of pleasant reading. When, however, the author leaves his 

 field experiences and essays to enter wider domains his limited 

 knowledge even in British Ornithology has led him to make many 

 erroneous statements, for instance, on the destination of the migrant 

 Woodcocks on leaving the British Isles, whidi he would have us 

 believe proceed to Palestine and Egypt ; and his remarks on the 

 relationship of the Rock and Common Ptarmigan. He is not quite 

 accurate in his statement regarding the distribution of the Golden Eagle^ — 

 his favourite bird — in Scotland. The author's conceptions as to what 

 species are to be regarded as " Hill Birds" are somewhat remarkable, for 

 he includes in this category the Woodcock, Snipe, Sandpiper, Oyster- 

 catcher and some others, which are equally at home in the Lowlands of 

 Scotland in localities immediately above sea-level. On the other hand, 

 he omits such characteristic sub-alpine species as the Buzzard, the 

 Merlin and the Ring-ouzel. It is surely unnecessary to have given the 

 French, German, Russian and other foreign names for the species 

 treated of, and to have described their plumages and general distribu- 

 tion. There are numerous attractive illustrations devoted chiefly to 

 hills and valleys, lochs and rivers which are perhaps very wisely in some 

 instances nameless. 



