NEW SPECIES OF BIRDS. 47 



by shot, and unable to perform long flight, have induced 

 mates to remain and breed in their winter quarters. 



To gain an accurate knowledge of the birds of the county, 

 it is necessry first of all to consolidate the work of the past 

 and then to investigate the various districts of the county 

 on systematic lines. Mr. Mansel-Pleydell's book forms a 

 good starting point, as it sums up, though, perhaps 

 too concisely, the knowledge of the birds of Dorset up to the 

 year 1888 ; and for our knowledge since that date we have to 

 rely chiefly on records in the pages of the " Zoologist," 

 11 The Field," and other periodicals, and especially on the 

 annual Proceedings of the Dorset Field Club. Our President 

 and Mr. W. Parkinson Curtis, with the assistance of other 

 observers, have been most painstaking in making observations 

 and tabulating records for a number of years past, so in time 

 we look forward to a more complete and up-to-date History 

 of the Birds of Dorset. 



In the writer's opinion, though the swelling of a county 

 list by the record of an occasional visitant is of interest, the 

 most useful form of work is the study of the distribution of 

 birds, even the commonest, in the county, with special notice 

 of their migrations, breeding range, and increase or decrease 

 of recent years. Among the many interesting points which 

 have lately been established are the eastward extension 

 of the breeding range of the Dipper in the county, and appar- 

 ently the westward extension of the range of the Nightingale, 

 while among the many points which require investigation 

 are :; the present situation and size of the Heronries in the 

 county, and whether Montagu's Harrier still breeds on the 

 heath, the Stone Curlew in any numbers on the chalk uplands, 

 and the Chough and Black-backed Gulls (greater and lesser) 

 on the sea cliffs ; also has the past severe winter wiped out 

 the Dartford Warbler from Dorset, as the writer is told it has 

 nearly done from its Hants and Surrey haunts ? It is very 

 much to be hoped that this, perhaps the most interesting of 

 our resident Dorset birds, has survived in sufficient numbers 

 to re-colonize the depleted districts. It would also be of 



