VOL. IX. J REVIEW. 219 



district with playing a concerted practical joke on the Bald- 

 headed Eagles, which had long persecuted them, by carrying 

 skeletons of fish already eaten and then inviting pursuit, 

 is scarcely worthy of reproduction in a serious book of 

 ornithological studies. We cannot help feeling that it would 

 have added to the real value of the book if the author had 

 confined himself more strictly to those parts which are based 

 on his own field-notes. The descriptions of plumage are 

 of little practical value : what would be of much greater 

 use would be concise notes pointing out the characters by 

 which the bird can be distinguished in the hand and in the 

 field from any other species with which confusion is possible. 

 The notes on distribution are obviously im]Derfect. On 

 page 36 it is stated that no bird has so wide a range as the 

 Golden Eagle, " in fact it is met with almost throughout 

 the world." One would scarcely guess from this that the 

 bird is unknown in the Southern hemisphere, and has never 

 been recorded from Central or South America, South Africa, 

 the Pacific Islands or the Australian region. That this is 

 due to mere carelessness is shown by the fact that Mr. Gordon 

 rightly describes the Osprey as occurring throughout Europe 

 and Africa as well as Asia, Australia and North America. 

 The statement that it is met with in New Zealand is however 

 eiToneous. Similarly, in dealing with the Sandpiper, the 

 range is given eastward to the Petschora, but as a matter 

 of fact it breeds across Asia and even in Japan, while south- 

 ward its breeding-area embraces not only the Caucasus as 

 stated, but also the Northern Himalayas. Many other 

 instances might be quoted, but these are sufficient for our 

 purpose. 



Nomenclature, fortunately, has but a small share in this 

 work, but it seems scarcely consistent to raise the Red Grouse 

 and the Dipper to the rank of species, while the Crested Tit 

 is provided with a trinomial. Moreover, it is obviously 

 incorrect to say that the Red Grouse is " the one and only 

 bird which Great Britain, and more especially Scotland, 

 can claim for her very own " (p. 137). We should say that 

 the honours were shared, as far as Scotland is concerned, by 

 the Scottish Crested Tit and the Scottish Crossbill, unless the 

 island forms of Wren and Song-Thrush are allowed to 

 participate. 



The statement that the Dotterel is the only wader whose 

 clutch never exceeds three is not accurate. The three clutch 

 is of course normal, as it is also in the case of the Kentish 

 Plover, and commonly in the Oyster-Catcher, but sets of 

 four have been recorded, though rarely, for the first two 



