134 liRITISII BIRDS. [vol. vi. 



description given is not sufficiently exact to make this 

 quite certain. 



Mr. Bolam's accounts of the habits of the birds he has 

 observed are so true to nature that we do not like to take 

 exception to any of his remarks under this head, but had ho 

 heard Dr. Bahr imitate the di-umming of a Snipe by means 

 of the outer tail-feather fastened into a cork, we do not 

 think he would have persisted in ascribing the sound to " the 

 rapid beating of the wings." We think, too, that it is a 

 mistake to refer to the " love-songs " of the Wood-Sand'piper 

 and Dunlin (which are surely vocal) as "drumming," a 

 word Avhich is generally only used in connection vd\\v the 

 " instrumental " sound made by the Snipe. 



In the matter of local races, Mi-. Bolam forestalls criticism, 

 for his work in the district Avas done before the question 

 became to be regarded as of importance. In nomenclature 

 he follows Saunders's Manual, though why he should 

 choose as an exception the Nightingales — a " violent transfer " 

 — it is difficult to say. 



We cannot leave this book without dra\\ing attention to 

 the interesting observations on moult, A\"hich are to be 

 found scattered throughout the work. This is a much- 

 neglected subject, and we are delighted to find that in this 

 Mr. Bolam has followed the example set by his fellow country- 

 man, Adamson. In most of what he says we are in agreement, 

 but we must dispute the statement that any of the Tits 

 have a spring-moult. We have examined most carefully 

 large series of British Tits in every month of the year [vide 

 antea, Vol. IV., p. 98), and it may be mentioned that Dr. 

 Dwight also found no spring-moult in the American Tits. 

 We think that Mr. Bolam must have been misled by find- 

 ing a few feathers being renewed in an occasional specimen 

 as a result of accidental loss, which frequently occurs, but 

 cannot be termed a moult. Special attention must here be 

 draA\'n to some important remarks about M'hite-breasted 

 examples of the Cormorant. Mr. Bolam writes : — 



In a considerable number of cases, the whole undor-parts become 

 whiter, instead of darker, dunng the second and subsequent years, 

 till, before the final change to black, the breast, and often the belly 

 also, is of a pure and shining white ; the vipper pkunage, with the 

 colour of the bill and eyes, by that time differing but little from tlie 

 adult state. Such white-breasted birds are, of course, not imcommon 

 on our coast, and were for long regarded by some of our more observant 

 local naturalists as a distinct race of the Cormorant : they may be 

 seen anywhere — even occasionally upon the nesting rocks — but I have 

 never obser\ed that any l)iit full l)lack-breasted birds actually breed. 



