LITERATURE. 
visits of two or three months, or by comparing skins secured 
by assistants, called " collectors/' who know nothing of the 
habits of the birds they send to those who employ them, and 
upon whose veracity even as to locality the employer cannot 
implicitly depend. 
It may be as well to notice such papers &c. as have been 
published hitherto relating to the ornithology of the district 
of the Straits. Dismissing the Spanish lists as meagre and 
full of errors, we commence with the papers written by Lord 
Lilford in ' The Ibis ' for 1865 (p. 166) and 1866 (pp. 173 & 
377) . In addition to the interesting facts they contain, these 
essays are the first which give any reliable information on the 
subject, and lay, as it were, the foundation of all the work 
that has since been done with regard to Spanish ornithology. 
Since then Mr. Howard Saunders has written, also in ' The 
Ibis' (1871, pp. 54, 205, & 384), a "List of the Birds of 
Southern Spain," extending as far eastward as Minorca and 
as far to the north as the fortieth degree of latitude, thus 
comprising a very large area. He has also contributed some 
other papers to 'The Ibis' (1869, pp. 170 & 391), which, 
altered and considerably enlarged, have appeared in ' The 
Field ' under the head of " Ornithological Rambles in Southern 
Spain." 
On the African side, Mr. Tyrwhitt-Drake gave a list of the 
birds observed by him in Tangier and Eastern Morocco (Ibis, 
1867, p. 421) ; and a " List of Birds seen near Tangier " 
appeared in ' Naumannia,' but, as far as I can judge, it is 
only a list, and a very inaccurate one. 
Lists of birds, generally speaking, have very few dates 
appended ; the exact localities where a species may be found 
is seldom indicated ; the period of migration is also not often 
stated. " Breeds plentifully," " appears in winter," " a 
regular visitant," " abundant in spring," — such are usually 
the vague remarks given with each species. 
Many of the ornithological papers in periodicals and 
journals are written up from one or two passing visits, often 
very short oues ; and some of the writers possess a power of 
vision truly astonishing. They see a bird in the distance^ 
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