2o6 Recent Literature. [ >fpril 



Interest,' ' Some General Remarks,' and ' Various Tables,' the latter refer- 

 ring to a great variety of facts bearing on the subject of migration. The 

 ' Reports on the Migration of Birds as observed at Lighthouses and 

 Lightships on the Irish Coast, 1888-1S97 inclusive' occupy over six hun- 

 dred pages (pp. 1-619), and are followed by an 'Appendix' (pp. 621-660). 

 giving 'Measurements of Wings of Birds obtained at Irish Light-Sta- 

 tions,' the birds having been killed by striking the lanterns and sent in 

 for identification. 



It is needless to say that we have here an enormous amount of infor- 

 mation on the migration of birds along the Irish coasts, which is clearly 

 presented in much detail. While of great interest in a local sense, it is 

 perhaps not to be expected that it will by itself have a very important 

 bearing upon the larger questions involved in the general problem of 

 migration. The measurement of wings has shown that the longer-winged 

 examples of a species are the first to arrive in spring, and in some cases 

 also in autumn ; but " neither the wings nor the statistics afford any suffi- 

 cient clue to enable one to determine positively in any given species 

 whether the young birds precede tb.e old ones or not .... There is one 

 point in favor of the supposition that the old birds are in the van of the 

 advancing army in autumn — viz., that in the majority of cases the longer- 

 winged birds come first" {^^.264^. Some evidence is presented to show 

 that different species of birds follow different migration lines in their 

 journey across Ireland, some having a wide migration route and others 

 a more restricted one; while the line of direction also varies in different 

 species. 



Ornithologists are certainly indebted to Mr. Barrington for his long 

 and arduous labor in collecting. such a mass of observations, and to him 

 and his friend Mr. Moffat for their reduction to such a state of order as 

 to be available for study by other workers in the same field. The cost of 

 this work, including its publication in a neat and convenient form, must 

 be, as the author intimates, largely a labor of love, the edition being 

 limited to 350 copies. — J. A. A. 



GJltke's 'Helgoland,' Second German Edition.^ — The second German 

 edition of this well-known work, issued in 16 parts during 1899 and 1900, 

 has been completed, and forms a volume of much the same size and appear- 

 ance as the first edition. It is brought out, as before, under the editorship 

 of Dr. R. Blasius of Braunschweig, who states in his preface that the 

 original text has not been changed, and that all interpolations are enclosed 

 in brackets or take the form of footnotes signed by the editor. The for- 



1 Die I Vogelwarte Helgoland. | Von | Heinrich Gatke, | weiland | . . . . 

 [:=:5 lines of titles] Herausgegaben | von | Professor Dr. Rudolf Blasius. | 

 Zweite vermehrte Auflage. | [Cut] Griin ist das Land, Roth ist die Kant', ) 

 Weiss ist der Sand, Dai sind die Farben von Helgoland. | Braunschweig 1900. 

 I Druck utid Verlag von Joh. Heinr. Meyer. Roy. Svo, pp. i-xvi + '-654, 

 Frontispiece, portrait of Giitke, and various text illustrations. 



