514 Recently published Ornithological Works. [Ibis, 



birds all have a postnuptial moult, and often a spring moult 

 as well, though there is a good deal of variation in this 

 respect, even among birds of the same genus. 



Miss Annie Jackson has taken up the same subject in 

 regard to the British Waders, and four parts of her work 

 are printed in the present volume. In the first contribution 

 she divides Waders into three classes according to the extent 

 of the prenuptial moult. (1) Those in which the moult is 

 partial and confined to the body-feathers, such as the Lap- 

 wing and Woodcock. (2) Those in which some of the 

 wing- and tail-feathers are involved as Avell, as is the case 

 with the majority of the Waders. (3) Those in which all 

 the remiges and rectrices, as well as the body-feathers, are 

 renewed, as in the Stints and the Common and Spotted 

 Sandpiper. Each genus is reviewed in detail, and the 

 results are very interesting. In another paper she gives us 

 some information as to when, in the case of migrant Waders, 

 the two moults take place, whether on the breeding-grounds 

 or in the winter quarters or during actual migration. No 

 one interested in moult and plumage change should fail to 

 read these papers of Lieut. Witherby and Miss Jackson. 



Other articles of interest in the present volume deal with 

 the life-history of the Hobby, by the late Capt. C. S. Meares 

 and by Capt. Ashley, of the Kingfisher by Mr. W. Kowan, 

 of the Moorhen by Frances Pitt ; while a paper by Lieut. 

 D. H. Meares on the Marsh Warbler is illustrated with 

 a coloured plate by Mr, C. E. Arnold, a new departure, if 

 we mistake not, in ' British Birds. ^ 



The second authentic record of the occurrence of the 

 Buff'-backed Heron (Ardeola ibis) in the British Islands is 

 detailed by Mr. E. W. Snelling. The bird, a male, was 

 shot on Breydon Marshes, in Norfolk, on 23 October, 

 1917, and was mounted by Mr. E. C. Saunders, of Great 

 Yarmouth. 



To the late Mr. C. J. Alexander, who was recently killed 

 at the front, we are indebted for two papers on Italian 

 ornithology. The first deals with the altitudiual distribu- 

 tion of birds in the mountains of central Italy. This is a 



