1917-] Recently published Ornith ological Works. 451 



British Birds. 



[British Birds : an illustrated Magazine devoted to the Birds on the 

 British List. Vol. x., June 1916-May 1917.] 



From January last the old-established magazine, the 

 ' Zoologist,' has been incorporated with ' British Birds.' 

 The former was established by Edward Newman in 1843 

 and is therefore one of the oldest of zoological magazines ; 

 it was edited till 1876 by Mr. Newman, and subsequently 

 by Messrs. J. E. Harting, W. L. Distant, and Frank Finn, 



The longest article in the present volume of ' Briti^h 

 Birds' is one by Mr. J. H. Owen on " Tlie Nesting-habits 

 of the Sparrow-Hawk." The observations and photographs 

 were all made near Felsted in Essex, where Mr. Owen is an 

 assistant master at the well-known school, and he has been 

 fortunate enough to secure the assistance of some of his 

 pupils in the laborious task of watching the several nests 

 during a period of nine weeks. There are a series of five 

 articles on " The Effects of Rain,'' " The Hen at the Nest," 

 ''The Cock," " The Nestling," "General Habits "—all are 

 abundantly illustrated by photographs and together form 

 the most complete life-history of the Sparrow-Hawk yet 

 published. 



Several parts of Mr. Witherby's "Moults of British 

 Passeres " and results of the marking scheme have already 

 been noticed in our pages. Miss Haviland contributes a 

 short notice of the breeding-habits of Temminck's Stint 

 (^Erolia [or Tringa\ temmincki) on the Lower Yenesei, and 

 sends a photograph taken by herself on her recent trip to 

 that country. Mr. Heatley Noble writes on the supposed 

 breeding of Branta Itucopsis in Iceland. When visiting 

 thiit island in the summer of 1913, he saw an undoubted 

 nest with eggs in the possession of a mysterious " general 

 dealer." According to an account subsequently sent to 

 Mr. Noble by the general dealer, the eggs were taken by 

 himself in a remote district in Iceland. No positive evidence 

 of the breeding of the Barnacle Goose in Iceland has yet 

 been recorded. 



