REVEW5 



The Birds of YorTcshire. hy T. H. Nelson, M.B.O.U., with the 

 co-operation of W. Eagle Clarke, F.R.S.E., and F. Boyes. 

 2 Vols. Illustrated. Brown & Sons. 25s. net. 



Since Yorkshire is the largest county of England, and possesses 

 a great diversity of physical features, and has, moreover, a long 

 coast-line favourably situated as a landing place for migrants, 

 it is not surprising that it should possess a richer avifauna than 

 any other county. The total of Yorkshire birds as given in 

 this work is 325, as against 315 species computed as having 

 occurred in Norfolk. Long ago the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union promised a history of the birds of its county, and the 

 work begun by Messrs. W. E. Clarke, and W. D. Roebuck, has 

 at last been completed by Mr. T. H. Nelson, with the assistance 

 of Mr. F. Boyes, and many other Yorkshire ornithologists. 



On the whole the two volumes before us are worthy of the 

 importance of the subject, but it is a very great pity that so 

 fine a work should be marred by blemishes altogether avoidable. 

 Some of these are of the most surprising nature. All through 

 the book the authority for the scientific name of a species is 

 placed within brackets, whether the generic name adopted was 

 employed by the original describer or not ! We understand 

 from the preface that the authors have had the assistance of 

 Mr. T. Sheppard for proof reading, and it is extraordinary 

 that this gross mistake, and many minor misprints should have 

 escaped the detection of so many eyes. Some of the misprints 

 have been corrected in an errat'i slip which itself contains 

 an erroi- — Liberian being printed for Siberian Meadow Bunting. 

 The volumes contain no map — an unaccountable omission. A 

 history of the birds of a county is, in our opinion, incomplete 

 without a map, and it should contain, besides, illustrations 

 showing different types of country frequented by typical species. 

 These volumes ai-e crowded with illustrations, excellent of their 

 kind, but nine-tenths are entirely unsuited to the needs of a 

 work such as this. We find innumerable photographs of the 

 nests of every common bird, but we look almost in vain for 

 illustrations of bird-haunts, of which Yorkshire can hoast so 

 many of such varied character. We cannot lay to the charge of 

 the authors the absurdity of these illustrations, for they are 

 certainly well aware of the requirements of a county avifauna 

 in this respect, and we can only regret that it was found 

 necessary for a committee, seemingly out of sympathy with the 

 subject, to meddle with what was an ornithologist's affair. 



It must not be supposed that these blemishes, to which we 



