276 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



Rhymes, and Sayings connected with them. By George Muirhead, 

 F.R.S.E., RZ.S., &c. Vol. II. 8vo. Edinburgh : D. Douglas, 1895.] 



This is the concluding portion of a work of remarkable 

 beauty, the first volume o£ which we noticed in 'The Ibis/ 

 1890, p. 117. As before, there is a daintily-etched vignette 

 to almost every species mentioned ; while many quaint sayings 

 and scraps of old ballads show the important part played by 

 birds in the daily life of the lowland peasant, and anti- 

 quarian lore abounds. Not that the life-history of birds is 

 made of secondary imjjortance, for the calendars and tables 

 of dates of migration are all admirable ; while, for graphic 

 description, the reader may turn to the Bittern and the sketch 

 of the condition of Bille Mire, near Chirnside, where the 

 " boom " had not ceased until the present century was 

 somewhat advanced. 



54. Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society's 'Trans- 

 actions.^ 



[Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. Vol. VI. 

 Pt. 1. Norwich, 1895.] 



The principal paper on ornithology in this part is by IMr. J. 

 H. Gurney, who gives an interesting account of the great 

 arrivalof Little Auks [Mergulus alle) on the coast of Norfolk 

 and vicinity during the severe cold of January 1895. No 

 fewer than 285 examples were actually received by taxider- 

 mists, most of them picked up dead or dying from starvation 

 and cold, for very few indeed were shot. In Yorkshire the 

 preponderance of females was remarked, and in Norfolk all 

 the earlier birds (with one exception) were of that sex, while 

 the later ones were nearly all males. ]VIr. Gurney also con- 

 tributes some remarks on the rarer species of Raptores 

 added to the magnificent collection in the Castle JViuseum, 

 as set forth in IVIr. SouthwelFs Keport. Lastly, Mr. Gurney 

 has communicated some extracts from a lecture given by 

 William Lean in Birmingham in 1856. The latter described 

 a Kite's nest robbed near Neath, the four eggs in which were 

 covered up with black-and-red plaided Welsh flannel; and 

 also made remarks, far in advance of the time, respecting the 



