NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 391 
parasitic Gulls are by no means uncommon on the English side of 
the Channel, about Torbay, during the autumnal migration. 
On the whole we do not doubt that Mr. Smith’s little book 
will prove acceptable to many, especially to those visitors to the 
Channel Islands who, without it, might search in vain elsewhere 
for reliable information concerning the birds which they are 
likely to meet with. 
Natural History Scraps: more especially about Birds. By C. M. 
Apamson. Newcastle-on-Tyne: Bell & Co. 1879. 
As a contributor for many years to the Natural History 
columns of ‘The Field,’ Mr. Adamson’s name will doubtless 
be familiar to many of our readers. He is an observant 
naturalist, and in a quiet, unpretending way has from time to 
time contributed many interesting notes on the Ornithology of 
Northumberland (in which county he resides), which have appeared 
in the columns of our contemporary. These notes have now been 
collected and reprinted in an octavo pamphlet of 140 pages, and 
amongst them we note a few which do not appear to have 
been previously published—such, for instance, as the account of 
Prestwick Car (pp. 80—93), which used to be such a paradise for 
naturalists until drained in 1855. 
It may be easily supposed the reclamation of such a place 
caused a great alteration in the fauna and flora of the district. 
“No similar place,” says Mr. Adamson, “now exists in the North 
of England; it was, in fact, a small fen. At times it collected 
Swan, Geese, Ducks and Waders, unlimited as to species as well 
as quantity.” Duck and Mallard, Teal and Shovellers, used to 
breed there; Coots and Moorhens abounded, and in the winter 
Little Grebes. Mr. Adamson states that he never heard of the 
last-named species being seen there in summer. This is rather 
curious, for the locality at one time was especially suited to its 
habits. Amongst other birds which used to breed on the Car 
may be mentioned the Curlew, Redshank, Ruff, Wood Sandpiper, 
Snipe, and Black-headed Gull; while Temminck’s Stint and the 
Black Tern have been found there in June. Mr. Adamson’s remarks 
on the habits of the Golden Plover and Snipe, as observed by him 
at this spot, are very interesting. “ Besides birds,” it would seem, 
“ Pike, Perch, Roach, and Eels, and hosts of shells, plants, and 
