66 NATURAL SCIENCE. June, 



breeding habits of several species of sea-fowl, which will be perused 

 with none the less pleasure if the details supplied are already familiar 

 to the majority of readers. The woodcuts of the young of Alca torda, 

 Fratevmla arctica, and Rissa tridactyla are quite gems in their own way, 

 being admirably executed. The staff of the Museum at Tromso come 

 in for some well-deserved recognition, while Professor Collett reminds 

 us of the salient features of bird life on the pretty little island which 

 gives its name to the capital of Finmark. Everywhere is heard, 

 he says, the wild cry of the Fieldfare [Ttirdus pilaris) ; in every meadow 

 we commonly find a pair of Blue-headed Wagtails {Motacilla flava) ; 

 from the thickets in the gardens, and from the willow bushes in the 

 moister places may be heard the best songster of the Arctic district, 

 the Blue-throated Warbler {Cyanecula siiecica) ; Redwings and White 

 Wagtails, Bramblings and Mealy Redpolls are equally characteristic of 

 this region. The second chapter deals with bird life on the Porsanger 

 Fjord, which affords Professor Collett an excuse for detailing the habits 

 of the lovely little Red-necked Phalerope (Phalaropiis hyperhoreiis). 

 " Often they may be found in flocks on the sea far from land, 

 rocking upon the surface in the strongest swell, like small specks of 

 foam. But in the small tarns up in the interior of the country, 

 between the leaves of Comaruiii, Menyanthes, and Hippuvis, we may be 

 able to find their nest, or meet with the four delicately-formed, 

 brownish-yellow, young in down, being conducted by one of the 

 parents among the water plants. This one of the parents is, as is 

 well known to the majority of my readers, always the male. With the 

 utmost indifference to danger, he runs, anxiously screaming, directly 

 in front of our feet, to divert our attention from the eggs or the small 

 young. The females on the contrary, which are a little larger, and 

 purer coloured, keep themselves to themselves during the nesting 

 season, and generally form the little flocks which we have seen floating 

 about on the small pools of water, or in the sea close to shore, 

 far removed from the burden of family life. Here the plainly- 

 coloured male is the weaker sex, which must wholly and entirely 

 undertake the hatching of the eggs, and the bringing up of the 

 young. This trait is by means peculiar to this species, although 

 hardly in any other case to so great an extent as the present, 

 where it also takes expression in the colour of the male. It is more 

 or less conspicuous with most of our arctic waders of the Stint 

 and Sandpiper families." Many other paragraphs are equally 

 to the point, and will be read with keen enjoyment by every- 

 one. Before taking leave of Professor Collett's delightful pamphlet, 

 which we lay aside with unfeigned regret, it is only right that atten- 

 tion should be drawn to the brief, but important, appendix furnished 

 by Mr. A. H. Cocks at the suggestion of Mr. Sclater. Herein we 

 find an admirable list of the Birds of Norway, very properly arranged 

 in accordance with the rules of the B.O.U. The total number of 

 birds, we are told, hitherto found in Norway is 278, while no fewer 

 than 212 species have nested, or are believed to have nested, in that 

 country. But, although the number of breeding species is so large, 

 the number of non-breeding visitors is only estimated at 66 ; of these, 

 no fewer than 40 are accidental visitors — a curious contrast to the 

 avifauna of Great Britain. In view of a second edition being required, 

 as we trust it speedily may be, we would suggest to Mr. A. H. Cocks 

 the extreme desirability of supplying some details of the supposed 

 occurrence of such rare visitants as Barrow's Goldeneye [Clangida 

 islandica) and the Greater Shearwater [Piiffinus major). If the occur- 

 rence of these species in Scandinavia is really fully authenticated. 



