736 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



decreasing in numbers, owing to the failure of the Close- 

 Season Law of 1885 (printed in full) to protect birds' eggs, 

 and that the scrub suffers from the ravages of sheep, much 

 as tlie forests in the Sandwich Islands do from those of 

 cattle. At the present time a comparison of the avifauna 

 of Iceland and Shetland affords many points of interest, 

 especially as regards migration. 



Mr. Slater, of whose tone we do not always quite approve, 

 takes exception to certain points in the writings of modern 

 authorities, especially as regards the Icelandic names of birds 

 and their orthography; but he rightly hesitates to accept 

 every record of a bird's occurrence, or even positively to affirm 

 his own experience as to the nesting of the Sanderling. 

 Many names, such as Kite, Cuckoo, and Stork, are shown 

 to be commonly met with in Icelandic literature, although 

 such species are quite unknown in the island. The 

 erroneous record of Tringa fuscicollis proves to have been 

 due to a misapplication of the name T. schinzi. 



A few slight textual errors may well be attributed to the 

 printer, but in the article on the Northern Wren, a piecing 

 together of notes has caused the author first to say that he 

 never met with the bird, and then to describe his discovery 

 of it. With regard to facts gleaned from the Durham 

 University Museum, it may be added that W. Proctor owned 

 at least one supposed egg both of the Pomatorhine Skua and 

 of the Grey Plover from Iceland, with others of the so-called 

 Fratercula glacialis — records of little value in themselves, 

 but shewing, in the first case, that Faber was not alone in his 

 statement about the breeding. Proctor, moreover, firmly 

 denied that the Eared Grebe nested in Iceland. 



Grave doubts are expressed as to the breeding of the King 

 Eider, the Garganey, and other birds. Mr. Slater's own 

 records of the Common Golden-eye and of the Sooty 

 Shearwater will be found in their proper place, while special 

 attention is drawn to the fact of many of the breeding species 

 failing to attain their full nuptial plumage in Iceland. 



