The Zoologist — OctobeKj 1874. 4165 



'§Qim at 1 eto §o;oIi5. 



T/ie Birds of Shetland, with Observations on their Habits, 

 Migration and Occasional Appearance. By the late Henky 

 L. Saxby, M.D., of Balta Sound, Unst. Edited by his 

 Brother, Stephen H. Saxby, M.A., Vicar of East Clevedon, 

 Somerset. Demy 8vo, 398 pp. letterpress, eight tinted lilho 

 plates. Edinburgh : Maclachlan and Stewart. London : 

 Simpkin, Marshall and Co. 1874. 



In offering to my readers this extended notice of a book 

 which is a posthumous collection and completion of Dr. Saxby's 

 eminently useful labours in the cause of Natural Science, I con- 

 sider it as much a duty as a pleasure to give a prefatory list 

 of his contributions to the ' Zoologist.' During an editorship 

 of thirty years I have had no correspondent who more tho- 

 roughly fulfilled my idea of what an ornithologist ought to be; 

 a constant and expert observer, and a scrupulously accurate 

 registrar of every observation. Whatever opinions may be enter- 

 tained by others, and I am aware there will be many diametrically 

 opposed to mine, I consider it an inestimable advantage that 

 Dr. Saxby never yielded to the mania for name-changing, that 

 rock on which of late years every would-be teacher has split, and 

 which has been the great deterrent of those who, under happier 

 auspices, would have gladly commenced the study of our British 

 birds. This conservative spirit, if t may call it so, pervades every- 

 thing Dr. Saxby has written; while his facts are new, his names 

 are old and familiar as household words, old friends with familiar 

 faces. Dr. Saxby's first contribution to the 'Zoologist' was in 

 February, 1861, his last in April, 1871. The following list of his 

 papers is, I believe, tolerably complete; the page of each is given 

 to facilitate reference ; but I ought to add that I believe every 

 recorded fact has been transferred to the volume now before me. 



1861. — Additions to Mr. Crotch's Notes on the Fauna of Shetland, 7425. 

 Nest of the Redwing in North Wales, 7427. Notes on the Birds of 

 Belgium, 7537 and 7625. Nest of the Snow Bunting in Shetland, 7709. 

 Occurrence of Uncommon Birds at Balta Sound during the year 1861, 

 7753. Food of Birds, 7809. 



SECOND SERIES — VOL, IX. 3 A 



