Reviews



85



bibliography can appreciate the work which the authors have put

in ; wading through journals is tedious and often unproductive.


Presumably the English counties are being first dealt with, but

it would have been wise to have stated this and to have given some

general plan of the scope of the work. It is to be hoped that

“ British ” means more than English. A glance at the dates of notes

for any county proves that ornithology is an ever-increasing study ;

it also shows to whom one can refer for information about the avifauna

of any district.


It is a little puzzling to understand what the authors have had

in mind when compiling the “ General Works of Reference ”. They

have not included Lydekker’s Sportsman’s British Bird Book, a really

useful volume, in spite of the fact that the illustrations are from

stuffed specimens, nor do we find P. R. Lowe’s Our Common Seabirds,

which contains many county references. Bishop Stanley’s Familiar

History of Birds is included in the Cheshire section, but it contains

interesting notes about other counties and deserves as good a place

as some of those included. Presumably there is some reason for

mentioning Robson’s Birds of the Derwent Valley under Cumberland,

for it is, rightly, also included in Durham. The book is to be com¬

pleted in six parts.


T. A. Coward.



A Geographical Bibliography of British Ornithology. By


W. H. Mullens, H. K. Swann, and F. C. R. Jourdain. Part II.


Witherby & Co.


Part II of this useful work deals with the English counties from

Essex to Middlesex. It is difficult to judge if all counties have received

the same care and attention, but the literature appears to have been

carefully searched. Lancashire is fairly full, but there are one or two

publications which have not been thoroughly examined.


A word of explanation why certain items are included would be

an advantage ; for instance, Doubleday’s Remarks on the Entomology

of Epping. The word appendix ” added to Ewing’s Some materials

for a Flora of Wroxham would have been sufficient, and possibly there

is similar reason for including notes on insects.



