BOOK NOTICES 165 



Curlew Sandpiper and Ortolan Bunting in Ross-shire. — 



On 31st August 1922 a party of some twenty Curlew Sandpiper 

 {Erolia ferriigined) all in juvenile plumage were seen and some 

 obtained on the Dornoch Firth. With the Sandpipers were some 

 Dunlin. A young female Ortolan {Emberiza hortuland) was 

 secured on 15th September 1922 by the shore near Portmahomack, 

 Ross-shire. — A. C. and R. Meinertzhagen. 



Buzzards, Ravens, etc., in Perthshire. — "We see Buzzards 

 constantly in this neighbourhood (Port of Menteith, Perthshire). 

 Shooting near Aberfoyle one day last year we saw four at once 

 coming along in front of the beat. The drive suffered, of course, 

 in consequence. They are quite common on the Menteith Hills 

 and round Loch Katrine. Ravens have also mcreased very greatly 

 in number. From a fishing point of view we are plagued with 

 Mergansers and Goosanders, both of which are far too numerous." 

 — (Lieut.-Col. T. W. S. Graham in The Field, 22nd April 1922, 

 P- 541). 



BOOK NOTICES. 



A Naturalist in the Great Lakes Region. By Elliot Rowland 

 Downing. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 

 Pp. XXV + 328. 



Zoology has lagged behind Botany in its appreciation of the import- 

 ance of studying organisms in such groups as nature brings together in 

 her own particular environments ; and in this study America has given 

 a distinct lead to this country. In this handy volume, well-printed, 

 profusely, and for the most part well illustrated, are contained a series 

 of chapters which trace briefly the history of the Great Lakes Region 

 of North America from its bed-rock to the recent superficial formations, 

 and describe the plant associations which have adjusted themselves to 

 these different conditions and the animal groups which have gathered 

 together as the vegetation developed. The author has successfully 

 attempted to interpret the significance of the common-place, and his 

 account of the formation, and of the plant and animal inhabitants, of the 

 sand dunes, the forest, the prairie, the river and the lake, affords a liberal 

 education in natural history. The plants and animals referred to are, of 

 necessity, American ; but there is a wonderful resemblance between the 

 members of these associations in the New and in the Old World. The 

 book is meant, in the first place, for teachers of natural science in 



