150 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



pipers/' as the translation runs, of course cannot be passed over 

 here, often as reference to it may have been made. Another 

 statement of his is perhaps of still greater interest to orni- 

 thology at large. Turner in Switzerland had actually handled 

 the mysterious Waltrapus, as he Latinizes its German name — 

 the " Waldrapp/' though his recollection of it was imper- 

 fect ; and thus his notice antedates that of Gesner by eleven 

 years. Yet it would seem as if the two naturalists had 

 already held friendly consultation about this bird, for 

 Turner's remarks upon it anticipate what Gesner afterwards 

 published, though the latter differed from his predecessor, 

 who regarded it as the Plialacrocorax of Pliny. So indeed 

 did Belon in 1555, as his figure shews (Hist, dc la Nature 

 des Oiseaux, p. 162), though he confounded it with a Cor- 

 morant — a point which seems to have been overlooked by 

 most writers on Geronticus or Comatibis eremita. The 

 greatest puzzle in Turner's book, however, is perhaps what 

 may have been the English word which he writes in Latin 

 form Fedoa, the equivalent of Godwit, used long after 

 by Linnaeus as the trivial name of one of the American 

 species of Limosa. To Turner, also, we are indebted for the 

 word Sterna, originally the local name, in some parts of 

 England at least, for S. nigra, of whose breeding-places he 

 gives a lively account : — 



" Through the whole of summer, at which time it breeds, 

 it makes such an unconscionable noise that by its unre- 

 strained clamour it almost deafens those who live near lakes 

 and marshes. This 1 certainly believe to be the bird whose 

 vile garrulity gave rise to the old proverb Larus parturit. 

 It is almost always flying over lakes and swamps, never at 

 rest, but always open-mouthed for prey. This bird breeds 

 in thick reed-beds." 



That is a picture more than three hundred and fifty years 

 old. It is just half a century since S. nigra laid an egg in 

 England ! 



With this we must conclude our notice; but there is 

 hardly a page in the book which does not invite a commen- 

 tary, and we believe that it will be found extremely interesting 



