366 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vi. 



although at the time Mr. Rothschild and Dr. Hartert con- 

 sidered that the only examples of Baer's Pochard in captivity 

 were at the Zoological Gardens (see Brit. Birds, Vol. I., p. 63), 

 it has since transpired, as noted by Mr. Millais, that there 

 were at the time examples at Woburn and that they may 

 have bred there ! It would have been perhaps less debatable 

 had Mr. Millais included Nyroca collaris which was found in 

 Leadenhall Market by Donovan a hundred years ago. 



Following the synonymy a list of English and many foreign 

 vernacular names is given, then we have a good description 

 of the egg (in which Mr. Millais frequently acknowledges the 

 help of Mr. Jourdain), a full description of the various 

 plumages from the down stage to the adults of both sexes, 

 a detailed statement of the distribution of the bird, and 

 finally an interesting account of its habits. 



The most valuable part of the letterpress is in the 

 descriptions of the various plumages and the accounts of the 

 habits, and especially the courting-displays, of these birds. 

 Both these sections are greatly helped by the Plates. 

 Mr. Thorburn contributes eight lovely pictures of the adults 

 in full plumage, while Mr. 0. Murray Dixon gives some very 

 pleasing drawings of birds in echpse plumage and Mr. Gronvold 

 depicts the ducklings in down. The Author, who, we think, 

 excels rather Avith the pencil than the brush, has included a 

 number of his own delightful studies, notably of courtship 

 attitudes, in monochrome, besides several pictures in colour. 

 Finally we have seven colour plates from skins, which, though 

 not particularly well reproduced, will undoubtedly be very 

 useful to the student. 



Mr. Millais has made the British ducks a speciality for 

 many years and has had (or has made) exceptional oppor- 

 tunities for observing and collecting them at different times 

 of year not only in this country but in Iceland, America, 

 North Africa and elsewhere. It is difficult therefore to 

 criticize his accounts of the sequence of plumages and habits, 

 and it must be left to those who have specialized on the subject 

 to say whether he has interpreted the facts correctly. 



Attention may be drawn to the excellent life -histories of 

 the Pochard and the Long-tailed Duck as well as to that 

 of the Goldeneye, in which the author suggests that the 

 comparative rarity of adults in the more southern parts of 

 Great Britain is due to the fact that the young come further 

 south than the old birds. His description of the display 

 of the Goldeneye should be compared with that given of 

 the American form by Dr. C. W. Townsend in the Auk (1910, 



