NA TURE 



[Ukcemhek 29, 1904 



FAVNX OF THE H/GHL.4.VD.S.' 

 T^HIS handsome new addition to Mr. Harvie- 

 A Brown's " \'ertebrate Fauna of Scotland " main- 

 tains the high standard of excellence which has marked 

 the preceding volumes. It is punctiliously accurate 

 and at the same time picturesque and full of interest. 

 One of the authors, the 

 Rev. H. A. MacPherson, 

 sacrificed himself too 

 whole-heartedly to an 

 enthusiasm lor ornith- 

 ology, and died in igoi at 

 the age of forty-three, and 

 Mr. Harvie-Brown has 

 also to deplore the loss of 

 another collaborator, Mr. 

 T. E. Buckley, who died 

 in 1902. Of both these 

 naturalists there are 

 appropriate in mcmoriani 

 sketches. 



This volume deals 

 specially with the western 

 parts of the counties of 

 Sutherland and Cromartv 

 — west of the great 

 " watershed " — and with 

 similar portions of Ross- 

 shire and Inverness-shire 

 down to the boundarv of 

 ".Argyll." In the intro- 

 ductory matter we find 

 terse physiographical 

 accounts of Skye, the 

 Ascrib Islands, Handa. 

 Priest Island, and the 

 coast of the mainland, 

 designed to illustrate the 

 most outstanding faunal 

 feature of the area, 

 namely, its isolation. Mr. 

 Lionel W. Hinxman con- 

 tributes a brief account of 

 the geology of the north- 

 west Highlands, and 

 there is another interest- 

 ing section dealing with 

 climatic and other 

 changes, including those 

 due to the hand of man. 

 Few of these can be said 

 to do man's intelligence 

 much credit. 



-Mr. Harvie-Brown con- 

 fesses that the chief in- 

 terest of the area in ques- 

 tion is the comparative 

 poverty of its fauna. 

 " The true faunal value 

 lies in its isolation bv sea 

 and mountain ranges." 

 " It appears to me to be 

 almost the poorest and 

 least favoured of our 

 Scotti.sh Faunal .\reas, 

 both as regards species 

 and in its paucity of in- 

 dividuals of many of them." Bui it includes 

 some old frequented haunts of .some of our now- 

 rarer birds, it illustrates faunistic changes traceable 

 ! • clim.-ilic changes, and it gives evidence of a keen 



"A Fauna of the Norih.West Highlands and Skye." By J. A. Haivie 

 ^o«n and H. A. MacPhe^^0D. Pp. civ 1 ,78; illu.vlraled. (Edinburgh: 

 vid Douglas.) Price 30s 



NO. 18.^5, VOL. 71] 



II 



struggle for existence amid which some species are 

 still advancing. What .Mr. Harvie-Brown particularly 

 seeks to show is that the hemmed-in nature of the area 

 is a main reason for its faunal poverty; thus some ot 

 the more prominent land-features of the countrv, such 

 as the long tongue of land of Ardnamurchan,' act as 

 deterrents to the advance of land birds from south to 



Highlands and Skye 



north. The nature of the soil, the vegetation, the dis- 

 tribution and character of wooded areas, and the 

 climatic conditions have also to be borne in mind, but 

 .Mr. Harvie-Brown has not done justice to himself or 

 10 his theme in his treatment of this .aspect of the 

 problem. Of course it is not given to everyone to be 

 .1 Humboldt, but without attaining to his compre- 



