358 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



Among articles dealing with migration problems is an 

 interesting one by Mr. W. W. Cooke on. the migration 

 of the Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsi). This species 

 breeds along the northern Arctic coast of North America 

 and south to Great Slave Lake. In winter it is unknown 

 anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, but has been reported 

 from the China and Japanese seas as well as along the 

 coasts of Norway. On migration the species is unknown 

 in the interior of Alaska, so that birds in spring must first 

 go north to Bering Straits, then north-east to Point Barrow 

 where it has not been seen earlier than May 15, then east 

 and then south to Great Slave Lake, a most roundabout 

 route. This seems impossible, and Mr. Wells believes that 

 the problem of how the Yellow-billed Loon reaches Great 

 Slave Lake is the most incomprehensible problem of 

 migration on the North American Continent. 



There are many other articles in this magazine we should 

 like to allude to, but we must forbear and can only 

 recommend our readers to subscribe for themselves. 



Irish Naturalist. 



[The Irisli Naturalist. Vol. xxiv. 12 nos., Jan.-Dec, 1915.J 



Whether it is owing to the war or to the sad loss Irish 

 ornithology has recently suffered in the deaths of Messrs. 

 Ussher and Barrington, the number of papers of interest 

 to bird-lovers in the ' Irish Naturalist ' seems to have fallen 

 off a good deal of late years. In the present volume there 

 is one paper of importance — that by Mr. R. F. Scharff on 

 the Irish names of birds. The list is arranged in dictionary 

 order and the names are printed in Irish characters with an 

 approximate English form for the benefit of those unlearned 

 in the Celtic. The November number is devoted to a long 

 and appreciative obituary notice of Mr. Barrington, prefaced 

 by a good portrait. His loss is assuredly a heavy blow to 

 Irish zoology. 



Prof. C. J. Patten contributes a short article on the Eider 

 Ducks recently observed at Inishtrahull off the north coast 



