524 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



Mr. Bonliote has wisely avoided all discussions about ar- 

 rangement and nomenclature by adopting those of Saunders's 

 ^Manual' and of the ' List o£ British Birds' of the B.O.U, 

 "Whether he was right in determining to include in his book 

 every species that has been knowm to occur in Great Britain 

 is a little doubtful. It is a great nuisance to carry about a 

 heavv handbook, and probably at least a hundred pages of 

 the present volume would have been saved by ejecting all 

 the species that are merely " waifs and strays/' or by 

 relegating them to an appendix in which little more than 

 the names would be given. Persons who use this handbook 

 would very seldom come across the rarer accidental visitors, 

 andjif they did, might well be referred to Saunders's 'Manual' 

 for information about them. In a popular work they seem 

 to us to be a little out of place, though where scientific 

 accuracy is exacted they should, no doubt, come in. Indeed 

 we know that the inclusion of such very scarce visitors as 

 the Griffon Vulture and the Blue-winged Teal in the British 

 List is apt to raise a laugh among the unlearned. 



Mr. Bonhote's field-notes about the birds are well-written 

 and generally correct, and give the principal facts required 

 to be known concerning them in easy language. We think, 

 however, that in some cases the general geographical dis- 

 tribution should have been more clearly indicated. It is of 

 great interest even to those who confine their attention 

 entirely to " British " species to know where they occur 

 outside the British area. Not a word, for example, is said 

 about the area occupied by the llobin on the Continent, nor 

 is the curious fact of its semi-migration alluded to. 



The one hundred plates, as we have already said, are a 

 very attractive part of Mr. Bonhote's volume, though in 

 some instances they are rather highly coloured, particularly 

 in the case ot the brightly coloured species. 



60. ' British Birds,' Vol. I. 



[British Birds, an Illustrated Magazine devoted to the Birds on the 

 British List. Witherby & Co. Nos. 1 to 12, completing- vol. i., 1907-8.] 



In a former number (above, p. 202) we have called 



