Recently published Ornithohf/ical Worka. 1 19 



of the 'Zoologist/ in Mliicli journal a large proportion of tlio 

 notes in the present volume have appeared, that the author 

 has sought his chief instruction. At the end of the work 

 the editor has appended a list of the species observed in 

 Shetland up to the present year; they are 202 in number, nearly 

 a third of uhich were added to the Shetland list by Dr. Saxby. 

 There are several birds included in the work, iipon doubtful 

 authority, which had better have been omitted altogether, 

 such as the Cuneate-tailed Gull and Dusky Petrel; their 

 insertion only gives rise to utterly unprofitable discussions 

 as to whether the birds really were what the author supposed 

 them to be. 



In a note speculating on tlie origin of the name " Boat- 

 swain" as applied to the Arctic Skua, the Editor does not 

 appear to be aware that the same name is applied universally 

 by sailors to the perfectly (so far as Gulls arc concerned) 

 inoffensive Tropic birds {Pliaeton). It is well known that the 

 long tail-feathers of the bird of tropical seas are supposed to 

 represent a marline spike. Whether the masterful manner of 

 the Skua gained it the name of the " Bosen," and the long tail 

 feathers were accounted for as being his marline spike, and 

 the name was thus transferred to a bird which also carried a 

 long tail, or the possession of a marline spike suggested the 

 name of " Bosen " in both cases, it is difficult to decide. We 

 have not been able to find any authority for the supposed 

 Scandinavian name " Bosun," suggested by Mr. Stephen 

 Saxby, which, If really in use, may be only an adaptation of 

 the English word. 



Mr. Broekholcs's paper on birds observed in Wirral, 

 Cheshire, forms No. 1 of the MVoeeedings of the (Micster 

 Society of Natui'al Sciences,^ and contains notes on 1G8 species 

 which have occurred in tlie district. Wirral, we believe, is 

 that part of the county palatine which lies between the estu- 

 aries of the Dee and the Mersey. So situated, we should 

 have thought the number would be larger ; but to m;d<e it 

 up the author has been compelled to enlist the Black Swan 

 ( (UjijvuH atratus) in his forces, though he admils lh:i1 lie is 

 "not certain that the bird referred to w.'is rcsdly :i wild one." 



SER. III. — ^oL. \\ . 2 I 



