modern scientific societies and technical ana- 
tomical descriptions, and again in the open air 
on those rocky islets where the birds congregate 
in their thousands during the months of the long 
nesting season. 
It is not every bird that deserves to be made 
the subject of a handsome and expensive mono- 
graph, but the gannet, as our author shows, 
makes more than ordinary claims on the interest 
and attention of the naturalist. And it is only 
just that a British naturalist should be the his- 
torian in this case, for of the fifteen breeding 
localities of the gannet, no fewer than nine lie 
off the coasts of our islands. Moreover, of the 
TOI ,O0O 
population of 
estimated total gannet 
Gannets‘on the Bass Rock. From ‘‘The Gannet: a Bird with a History.” 
birds (exclusive of nestlings), 75,000 are allotted 
to these nine haunts. The British colonies are 
Lundy Island (recently abandoned); Grasholm, off 
Pembrokeshire; the Little Skellig and the Bull 
Rock, off the south-west of Ireland; Ailsa Craig, 
in the Firth of Clyde; St. Kilda (three colonies) ; 
Sulisgeir, to the north of the Lewis; the Stack 
of Sule Skerry, to the west of Orkney; and the 
Bass Rock. In the Feer6es there is a colony on 
Myggenes, while off Iceland there are colonies 
in the Vestmann Islands and the Eldey group, 
and a very small one on Grimsey, which is on 
the north coast, and lies within the Arctic Circle. 
Across the Atlantic there are colonies on Bona- 
venture and the Bird Rocks, in the estuary of 
the St. Lawrence; while there, as here, former 
sites, long since abandoned, are also known. 
NO. 723 16,1 VOL. 93) 
NATURE 
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[APRIL 2, 1914 
Mr. Gurney points out that these colonies, 
without exception, are on rocky islands, and that 
no mainland site, past or present, is anywhere 
known. Furthermore, the great majority of 
those on this side of the Atlantic lie off westerly 
coasts; the Bass Rock is, indeed, the only British 
exception. Apart from these points, there is an 
interest even in the purely statistical side of the 
careful census, which Mr. Gurney has been able 
to make. There are few species the numbers of 
which can be estimated even approximately, and 
the figures given in this volume should form an 
interesting basis for comparison in the future. 
The book opens with a discussion of the vari- 
ous vernacular and_ scientific names which the 
species has received: “both “Ygannet 7 Yard 
“solan” are dealt with at length. Then come 
} many interesting pages quoting historical refer- 
ences to the gannet, illustrated by quaint figures 
taken from the works of the early naturalists. 
The species is justly called “A Bird with a 
History.” 
Mr. Gurney devotes a chapter to each of the 
important colonies, and shows personal familiarity 
with them in many cases, and an _ exhaustive 
knowledge of their literature in all. History is 
then left for a discussion of the general habits 
1 of the gannet, its nidification and incubation, the 
growth of its nestling, its food and its manner 
of fishing, its powers of diving and its seasonal 
movements, and many another question. Nor is 
its relation to man neglected—its effect on 
fisheries and its use as food. Finally, the 
plumage, osteology, and general anatomy are 
discussed, and appendices are added dealing with 
its allies, its parasites, its fossil remains, and 
the like. 
We may note the omission from the _ biblio- 
graphy of Mr. Kirkman’s recent important con- 
tribution (“The British Bird Book”) to the study 
of the gannet’s habits, but Mr. Gurney has missed 
little that throws light on the interesting bird 
which he has made the object of enthusiastic and 
fruitful study. Many useful maps and beautiful 
photographs are scattered throughout the work. 
A aie 
DR. G.. J. BURGH TRS: 
{EW men of science have had such a varied 
career as Dr. George James Burch, whose death 
we announced with regret last week. Born in 
1852, he went in 1873 to Cheshunt College to 
study for the Nonconformist ministry, and in due 
course became a minister first at Leeds, and later 
at Oxford. But at Oxford his duties became to 
some extent uncongenial to him, and this fact, 
coupled with a very bad breakdown in health, 
induced him to give up his pastorate, and take 
up the study of science for which he always had 
a natural inclination. He was hampered by 
pecuniary difficulties which would have deterred 
most men from such a course, and only by the 
most heroic struggles could he and his newly- 
