612 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



XXXIII. — Notices of recent Ornithological Publications. 



[Continued from p. 541.] 



79. Amundsen's North-West Passage. 



[The Nortli-West Passage, being the llecord of a Voj^age of Exploration 

 of the Ship ' Gjiia,' 1903-1907. By Roald Amundsen. Two vols. 

 London : Constable & Co., 1908.] 



The narrative of Capt. Amundsen's successful accom- 

 plishment of the ISTorth-West Passage, and of his long 

 sojourn at the North Magnetic Pole will be read with great 

 pleasure by all interested in Arctic Exploration. Although 

 there is no chapter in it specially treating of the avifauna, 

 there are frequent references to birds in its pages, and we 

 observe that " Swan Lake " and " Snow-Sparrow Hill " 

 are among the names given to new places in King-William 

 Land. The first messenger of spring in this high northern 

 spot was a Raven, which arrived on April 4tli. Ptarmigan 

 seem to have been plentiful in summer in many places, 

 and to have been much used for food, but the main supply 

 of fresh meat was furnished by Reindeer and Hares. 



We have applied to Prof. Collett for information concerning 

 the birds collected during this expedition. He kindly tells 

 us that the skins have reached Chris tiania in rather a bad 

 state, but have been placed in the hands of a taxidermist to 

 be cleaned and put into order. He will no doubt give us a 

 good account of them later. They were all collected by the 

 steward Lindstrom, to whom the investigations in Natural 

 History were assigned. 



We may add that a good general account of Capt. Amund- 

 sen's adventurous expedition will be found in an article by 

 Mr. Alfred Smythe, F.R.G.S., published in the * Nineteenth 

 Century' for February 1908, and entitled ''The Real Hero 

 of the North- West Passage." 



80. ' Annals of Scottish Natural History.' 



[The Annals of Scottish Natural History. A Quar 

 lich is incorporated ' The Scottish Naturalist.' Ap 



We usually expect to find some very important articles in 



[The Annals of Scottish Natural History. A Quarterly Magazine with 

 which is incorporated ' The Scottish Naturalist.' April and July 1908.] 



