366 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



matter^ especially as regards those species whose homes lie 

 to the eastward, and is in most cases sufficiently full as well 

 as accurate. But the author does not appear to have 

 brought his information quite up to date with regard to the 

 distribution of species in Britain, or, perhaps we should 

 say, might advantageously give more ample details of that 

 distribution in cases where fresh information has been 

 acquired by those so carefully working at the British 

 Avifauna. 



The Little Owl has now a far more extended range in 

 England than that here assigned to it, and Bewick's Swan is 

 numerous every winter in parts of the north-west of Scotland, 

 and not only in some winters. Further particulars, moreover, 

 might be added in the case of such Ducks as the Gad wall, 

 Shoveler, and Wigeon. Mr. Dresser seems to imply that the 

 Shoveler's nesting in Scotland is a matter of doubt, though 

 it is known to do so in several parts, and the woodcut 

 given depicts a nest from Fifeshire. Again, the Gannet 

 is said to breed on " Sulisgeir and Suliskerry." Now 

 Suliskerry is a flat island (as a '' skerry '^ always is), and no 

 Gannet would think of nesting there. As is well known 

 to residents in Northern Scotland, and may be gathered 

 from such works as ' A Vertebrate Fauna of the Orkney 

 Islands,' p. IGO, the bird only breeds on " Stack" (or East 

 Sulisgeir) and West Sulisgeir. The Stack is an almost 

 inaccessible precipitous island and has no connexion 

 whatever with " Skerry." 



With a few such exceptions the work is excellent, and 

 gives us much information as to the new subspecies that 

 have recently been proposed, though not invariably 

 accepted by our author. It avIU be noticed that Mr. Dresser 

 no longer maintains the specific title of Corvus leptonyx 

 for Irby's Raven (C. tingitanus) and that he upholds the 

 specific distinctness of the Grey-backed and Carrion Crows, 

 M'hile he appears to doubt the fact of the e^^ of the Cuckoo 

 shewing a resemblance to that of the foster-parent, therein 

 differing from the great majority of ornithologists. 



A printer's error of some importance is to be found under 



