Recent Ornithological Publications. 123 



more. It is very easy for any bookmaker to bring Pontoppidan 

 into ridicule ; but such a bookmaker seldom recollects that the 

 old bishop was at least not behind the science of the day, while 

 the case may be very different with a consular chaplain. 



Mr. Sterland's 'Birds of Sherwood Forest'* is a very unpre- 

 tending little volume, which we have much pleasure in recom- 

 mending to our readers ; for, though not altogether free from 

 errors, it bears the mark of labour conscientiously applied, and 

 many of the author's observations and reflections well deserve 

 attention. In the district to which he has limited himself, Mr. 

 Sterland has met with 172 species ; but the authority of some of 

 them seems to be rather questionable. For instance, there is 

 the Golden Eagle included as a chance-visitor, but without any- 

 thing to show that the bird seen and not obtained was not a 

 Sea-Eagle, as it is far more likely to have been. Mr. Sterland 

 assures us, on the strength of his own " careful and repeated 

 observations," that it is the Barn-Owl which hoots, while the 

 Tawny Owl screeches. We cannot attempt any explanation of 

 this mistake (for mistake we believe it to be), since, though we 

 must confess we have never enjoyed the acquaintance of any 

 Sherwood-Forest Owls, we do not suppose that they depart from 

 the habits of their brethren in the rest of England or on the 

 Continent. Hitherto Sir William Jardine has been the only 

 ornithologist in the world who has been so fortunate as to hear 

 the Baru-Owl utter the cry which most observers, ourselves 

 among them, have thought to be peculiar to the other species ; 

 but now Mr. Sterland ranges himself as a witness on the same 

 side, and even goes furlLsr, we apprehend, than Sir William, by 

 declaring that the Tawny Owl " screeches, and rarely, if ever, 

 hoots" — this last assertion being one that will be contradicted 

 by the experience of most of our readers. However, leaving 

 this point as one on which we must " agree to differ," we must 

 notice a few points of interest in Mr. Sterland's work, and 

 herein especially mention his remarks on the oil-gland in 



* The Birds of Sherwood Forest. With notes on their Habits, Nesting, 

 Migrations, &c. By W. .T. Sterland. London : 1869. 8vo, pp. 244. 



