174 BRITISH BIRDS. 



claim that the Turtle-Dove is extending its range northward is 

 hardly justified by the records of its occurrence for this area, 

 since only two are given for the last twenty years, and Mr. 

 Evans's statement that " there can be little doubt that it is 

 beginning to breed in our district," is not justified by the 

 evidence adduced. The Red-legged Partridge should have 

 been placed within square brackets, in our opinion, since it 

 only gains a precarious place by reason of recent introduc- 

 tions into the area. Mr. Evans calls the Wood -Sandpiper 

 a rare summer visitor, presumably because it has once (in 

 1853) nested in the area. It should have been called a 

 vagrant. The statement in the footnote (p. 210) attributed 

 to Mr. W. Evans, that these birds " not uncommonly remain 

 with us for the whole summer," should perhaps refer to the 

 Green Sandpiper, for the Wood-Sandpiper has very rarely 

 been recorded in any part of Scotland, even as a straggler. 

 The Great Crested Grebe has not yet been recorded as breed- 

 ing. The date of the White-billed Northern Diver obtained 

 by Mr. Abel Chapman at Holy Island is given correctly as 

 January, 1879, and not Januar}^ 1907, as stated in our Volume 

 I., p. 295. ■ 



In two important particulars Mr. Evans's work must be 

 deemed unsatisfactory to modern requirements, and much 

 that must be done has been left undone, and might have been 

 at all events begun by the author of this volume. We refer 

 to the want of exact information regarding (1) migration as 

 observed in the area and (2) the occurrence of continental 

 forms. 



The important subject of Migration is neither treated 

 separately in the Introduction, nor has much trouble been 

 taken to give accounts of the movements of each species. 

 For examples, we are told of the Song-Thrush," Emigration 

 takes place, to some extent, for the winter, and the number 

 of individuals in the district may vary considerably with the 

 influx of others from abroad." Of the Robin, that " About 

 September our native stock is said to be augmented by 

 immigrants, which remain with us during the cold season." 

 Again, " Starlings are well known to be to a considerable 

 extent migratory, and flocks often arrive on the coast in 

 autumn." Such indefinite statements are really quite useless, 

 and might have been made without any special local know- 

 ledge. It is surprising that they should appear in such a 

 form in an important fauna. In the accounts of such easily 

 observed birds as the Swallow, Martin, and Sand-Martin, 

 we are only told ^\'hen they arrive and when they depart, no 

 mention being made of passage through the area. There is 



