OTE5 



THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



To compile a complete bibliography of a subject which has 

 attracted so much attention for so many years as the orni- 

 thology of this country would be a task of great magnitude, and 

 so far as we know no such bibliography has been attempted, 

 although we have had most useful papers on the subject by 

 Dr. Elliott Coues in the " Proceedings of the U.S. Museum " 

 (1880), and in Mr. Miller Christy's " Catalogue of Local Lists " 

 (1891), as well as by the late Professor Newton in the 

 " Dictionary of Birds," A valuable contribution towards the 

 subject has just reached us in the form of a pamphlet entitled 

 " A List of Books relating to British Birds published before the 

 Year 1815." These are from the Kbrary of our contributor. 

 Mr. W. H. Mullens, and the pamphlet forms an " Occasional 

 Publication No. 3," of the Hastings and St. Leonards Natural 

 History Society. Seven plates giving facsimiles of rare and 

 notable editions will be much appreciated, while the extremely 

 carefully drawn up details of the works themselves cannot fail 

 to be of the greatest value. We are glad to see the words 

 "to be continued " at the end of the pamphlet, and we would 

 suggest that if those who possess valuable ornithological 

 libraries would co-operate with Mr. Mullens the task of 

 forming a bibliography of British birds might be accomplished. 



Eds. 

 COMPARATIVE LEGISLATION FOR THE 

 PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 

 In Vol. I., page 354, we called attention to an offer by the 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds of a gold medal and 

 a prize of twenty guineas for the best essay on the subject 

 of " Comparative Legislation for the Protection of Birds." 

 This prize has been awarded to Mr. A. H. Macpherson, Avhile 

 a second prize of ten guineas has been given to Lieut. -Colonel 

 G. A. Momber. — Eds. 



THE BRITISH SONG-THRUSH AND DARTFORD 

 WARBLER. 



Dr. Ernst Hartert has already described in these pages 

 (Vol. I., pp. 208-222, Vol. II., pp. 130-131) a number of 

 geographical races of birds which are peculiar to the British 

 Islands. At the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club 

 held on January 20th last, he called attention to the differ- 



