16



Bevieics



that West Coast migration is more important than is usually admitted.

Judging by the Ortolan, Wryneck, and Black Redstart, many birds

which do not nest far north in Scandinavia reach the western sea¬

board, almost certainly crossing England on autumn migration.


On the strength of Mr. R. W. Jones’s dates Mr. Forrest might include

the Black Redstart as a regular winter visitor ; indeed, many of his

occasional visitors are far more regular than he suspects. He has

corrected his extraordinary statement that the White Wagtail does

not travel through Wales on autumn passage ; he cannot have visited

North Wales frequently in autumn. Neither, evidently, is he aware

how regular are the movements of the Manx Shearwater and Richard¬

son’s Skua, or he would have made a bolder assertion and not founded

his remarks upon a few scattered references.


No useful purpose is served by advertising that there still exist

breeding places of the Chough and other rare birds, which have

struggle enough to avoid the raids of collectors. Those who for long

have been aware of these breeding haunts have refrained from even

mentioning them, and have kept back their information simply for the

sake of the birds.


As a compilation there is much useful matter in the Handbook, and

it is a convenient size to take on a holiday trip ; the most important

notes that have appeared in British Birds, the Zoologist, and in books

that have been published since 1907, are here gathered together.

There is, however, little original matter, and in a few cases information

from correspondents needs sifting.


T. A. Coward.


Photography for Bird-lovers. By Bentley Beetham, F.Z.S.


London : Witherby & Co.


The scope of this book may best be described by quoting the author’s

own words—“ It is not destined to serve as a textbook of photography,

but rather as a manual for the application of that art to a given purpose

—that of bird photography.” In the 120 odd pages Mr. Beetham gives

a vast amount of information, commencing with a discourse upon the

outfit required for bird photography, and following with a description

of the various methods employed in securing pictoral records of the

feathered folk.



