448 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



to the craft of the numerous gunners who once frequented 

 its shoals; and one of the valleys which thence stretches 

 westward has yielded by far the ma_iority of English examples 

 of Scolopax sabinii, while another furnished the type speci- 

 men of Botaurus lentiginosus* . Lord Ilchester^s swannery 

 on the Fleet is probably unique in the world ; for where else 

 can be seen on one water upwards of a thousand living 

 examples of Cygnus olor? Mr. Mansel-Pleydell has un- 

 wittingly deprived his county of the distinction of having 

 produced the sole European specimen of Picus pubescens ; for 

 the specimen which he records as shot near Whitby was a P. 

 vilJosus {cf. Zool. pp. 2496 and 2985). A complete account 

 of the Birds of Dorsetshire has yet to be written ; but when 

 that is done the present treatise will give valuable aid to the 

 author, whoever he may be. 



The demand for works on the ornithology of particular 

 districts seems to be ever on the increase ; and within the last 

 few years numbers of such books, of more or less merit, have 

 made their appearance. The scene of Dr. Saxby's ' Birds of 

 Shetland' t is well chosen, as the book treats of the ornithology 

 of a group of islands situated at a sufficient distance from the 

 mainland to render easy the question of boundaries, often 

 perplexing to Avriters on county or local faunas. 



The chief excellence of Dr. Saxby's book consists in its 

 field-notes, which bear the stamp of having been written 

 almost out of doors. This merit often carries Avith it a cor- 

 responding disadvantage, which we think observable in the 

 present ease. We notice a want of appreciation of the neces- 

 sity of acquiring a well-digested knowledge of the external 

 range of the birds found in the Shetland Islands. This is 

 shown by the scanty references scattered through the work ; 

 Gray's ' Birds of the West of Scotland' is occasionally quoted. 

 The birds of the Faroes are barely alluded to, still less those 

 of Iceland or the Scandina\dan peninsula. It is in the pages 



* Montagu, Orn. Diet. App. pi. 



t The Birds of Shetland, with Observations on their Habits, Migration, 

 and occasional appearance. By the late Henry L. Saxby, M.D. Edited 

 by his brotlier, Stephen H. Saxby, AI. A. Edinburgh : 1874, 8vo, pp. 898. 



