January 13, 192 1 J 



NATURE 



625 



shaped corrie with eagles sailing above its dark 

 water; the glen of the herons, where one can see 

 eight nests on one small tree (it is noted, by the 

 way, that the heron sometimes feasts on frog 

 spawn); the little islet of Erniesgeir, where the 

 puffins have destroyed all the grass; a seal at 

 Skerryvore playing with a large cod in the water 

 as a cat with a mouse ; a great company of 

 Bewick's swans swimming restlessly backwards 

 and forwards along a narrow lane on the freezing 

 loch, trying to keep an open waterway ; a flock 

 of dozing whooper swans with their snowy plum- 

 age lit up by the moon ; but we must stop, Tor the 

 book is full of these delightful things, to read of 

 which is like taking a holiday. We wish to ex- 

 press our admiration of the succession of seasonal 

 word-pictures of the Western Highlands which 

 form the closing chapters of the book. They 

 form a text worthy of the extraordinarily fine 

 photographs. 



Many will enjoy the studies of particular birds, 

 such as the fighting blackcock. "Their curious 

 bubbling note never for one moment ceased, and 

 "■very now and again, as two individuals struck 

 .it each other with their feet, they uttered a sharp 

 hissing sound, reminding one somewhat of the 

 crow of a cock partridge. I think that the more 

 one watches blackcock at their fighting the more 

 one must come to the conclusion that much of this 

 is somewhat half-hearted, and appears to be in- 

 dulged in mainly with the idea of putting in the 

 time and relieving the birds of their high spirits of 

 an early morning. Of course, combats in earnest 

 do take place, and continue until one of the com- 

 ibatants is either killed or else put to flight." We 

 isuppose these tournaments vary in temper, for in 

 lie case of the only good show we have seen, the 

 Justing was far from half-hearted, and there were 

 imerous grey hens close by. Mr. Seton Gordon, 

 rhose experience is great, says : " It is rarely that 

 de grey hens in any numbers frequent the battle- 

 Seld. One often sees an odd bird there, or even 

 »ro or three, but personally 1 do not think 1 have 

 trer seen so many as even half a dozen watching 

 Ithe fighting of perhaps twenty cocks." Polygamy 

 [notwithstanding, he thinks that there are consider- 

 Kably more blackcocks than grey hens. We should 

 [like to hear more of this. 



The ringed plover, called in Gaelic "the ptar- 

 migan of the waves," arrive in the Western Isles 

 i ith the first coming of spring. A glimpse of 

 I heir courtship is given. "The lady on these occa- 

 sions stands demurely by while the cock bird rises 

 xcitedly from the sun-warmed shingle, and, with 

 arious, erratic flight — a flight that is almost bat- 

 ke— twists and tumbles, calling the while with 

 oft and plaintive note. All the time his wings 

 NO. 2672, VOL. 106] 



move with scarce half their usual speed, and this 

 characteristic of the love-song of the waders — 

 though I have not seen it set down in any book 

 — is well marked also in the oyster-catcher and 

 the golden plover, to mention only two at ran- 

 dom." The newly hatched chicks, like the eggs 

 before them, are very difficult to find in their 

 natural surroundings. " VV hen they crouch at the 

 alarm call of their parents they are almost im- 

 possible to locate. It is then that the old birds 

 show signs of very great alarm, and often make 

 believe that they are injured, trailing along just 

 ahead of the disturber of their peace, and perhaps 

 waving a wing Jielplessly in the air, or lying 

 motionless as though dead, in their efforts to 

 decoy him from the vicinity of their young." Who 

 can help envying Mr. Seton Gordon his close 

 acquaintance with the very interesting red-necked 

 phalaropes which nest by the lochans of one of 

 the far western islands? In their solitude they 

 seem to know no fear, for they allowed the 

 naturalist to come within a few yards of them. 

 "When on the water the red-necked nhalarope 

 rides with extreme buoyancy, and progresses 

 rapidly. Its neck is long, and is held erect, and 

 when it approaches the observer the russet-red 

 markings on the cheeks and neck are strikingly 

 handsome. Its call, too, is quite distinctive, a 

 high chirruping cry, resembling no other call that 

 I know of." Here, as elsewhere, the author re- 

 frains from comment on the biological peculiarities 

 of the bird ; we suppose he prefers simply to tell 

 his own story in his own way, and we think his 

 restraint is wise. The record has a sincere 

 naturalness about it, and a very pleasing style. 

 We wish that we had left space to say a little 

 ill regard to the author's references to the people 

 of the islands. Here, as in his natural history, 

 he has the insight that is bred of sympathy and 

 scientific patience. 



Modern Oil-finding. 

 Prospecting for Oil and Gas. By L. S. Panyity. 

 Pp. xvii -1-249. (New York: John Wiley and 

 Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 

 1920.) Price i8j. net. 



IT is to be hoped that by now, when so much 

 publicity is given in the Press to commercial 

 oil undertakings (and, unfortunately, to many 

 which are the reverse of commercial in the true 

 sense of the word), the more intelligent public 

 will have learned that " chance " is a relatively 

 unimportant factor in modern oil-finding. Much 

 of the present-day success of existing fields, and 

 undoubtedly the prospects of ultimately locating 

 new productive ;iroas, lie in the application to 



