Recently published Ornithological Works. 613 



the Scottish ' Annals/ and are not disappointed in these 

 numbers, for Mr, Eagle Clarke writes his third report on the 

 birds of Fair Isle (which includes the observations made in 

 1907), and Mr. Paterson follows with his " Report on Scottish 

 Ornithology for 1907/^ In the latter the most striking facts 

 are naturally those furnished by Mr. Clarke, and these may 

 be summarized as follows: — 117 species in all were noticed 

 in Fair Isle, 77 in spring and 111 in autumn, the latter 

 including 71 also observed in spring. 17 species were new to 

 the fauna of the island, the rarest being the Siberian ChifF- 

 chaflF (several examples), the Black-headed Bunting (1), the 

 Black-throated Wheatear (1), and the Short-toed Lark (1). 

 Next in importance were the Grasshopper- Warbler, the 

 Grey-headed Wagtail, the Wood-W^arbler, and the Black 

 Redstart. But, though many rare birds visited the island, 

 many (such as the Goldcrest) that were common in other 

 years failed to appear. It is not, however^ only for records 

 of rare species that Mr. Clarke's work is so valuable, especially 

 as these may be chance visitors ; the importance of his con- 

 stant visits to this isolated spot and the subsequent reports 

 on the rich harvest secured during migration lies in the fact 

 that we can thereby judge more fairly of the status of our 

 occasional visitors^ and determine with more confidence how 

 far their visits are regular, how far fortuitous. The present 

 report is especially helpful to this end, and Fair Isle has 

 proved a particularly fortunate choice of station and a 

 favoured resting-place of migrants. 



Turning to Scotland in general, Mr. Harvie-Brown 

 furnishes us with another of his admirable sketches of 

 distribution, the subject on this occasion being the Wood- 

 cock, and the area Central '' Forth " ; Mr. Service writes 

 of the Bar-tailed Godwit in Solway (where a flock of 200 

 individuals remained during the whole summer), and 

 Mr. Laidlaw on the food of the Black-headed Gull. 



An appeal is printed, from the Royal Society for the 

 Protection of Birds, with regard to the preservation of rare 

 species ; and in the general notes we observe that the 

 Siberian ChiffchafC and the Wood-Warbler have occurred in 



