1922.] Recently publhhed Ornithological Works. 377 



Gerfaut. 



[Le Gerfaut, Eevue beige d'Ornithologie. lie Aunee, 1921 ; 4 fuse. 

 iu3.] 



Oue of the most interesting articles in the ' Gerfaut^ for 

 last year deals with the present condition of the Yser district, 

 which was the scene of so much of the fighting during the 

 war. The town o£ Dixmude, whitli iias not apparently 

 heen restored, is now occupied by Passer montanus instead 

 of P. domesticus ; wliile other birds formerly not found 

 there, such as the Linnet, are now abundant. Along the 

 valley of the Yser itself were formerly rich and productive 

 farms. Here, partly owing to the shell-holes and partly 

 owing to the destruction of tlie dykes, the country has 

 become a vast marsh overgrown by reeds and bulrushes, and 

 has now been occupied by a number of w'ater- and shore- 

 birds. The Garganey, Shoveler, and Pochard, the Avocet 

 and the Stilt all nest there, some of these being previously 

 hardly known in Belgium. All this is related by M. C. 

 Dupond in a most interesting communication. 



M. A. Mercier has a note on the song of the " Plypolais 

 contrepaisant," which presumably is our Icterine Warbler, 

 and the " Rousso'olle des marais," probably the Great Reed- 

 Warbler ; it would assist readers in other countries if the 

 scientific names were added to these rather obscure French 

 vernacular names. 



In the second fascicule M. G. van Havre, with the assist- 

 ance of a number of collaborators, has put together notes 

 on the occurrences of the rarer birds in Belgium l)etween 

 May 1920 and April 1921 ; included in the list are examples 

 of both Buteo buteo nificaudus and B. b. vulpinus as well as 

 other rare species. In a further article the same author 

 discusses the occurrence of the two Spotted Eagles in 

 Belgium. Some six instances are recorded ; of these, 

 M. van Havre assigns oue to Aquila pomurina and two 

 other recent ones to A. clanya, while the other three are 

 uncertain. M. A. Galasse recounts his experiences in the 

 Forest of Bouillon where he has met with a number of in- 

 teresting birds breeding, including the Black and lied Kites, 



