92 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



number and colour of eggs, &c], all these particulars are its real 

 history." 



If we may conceive the works of Yarrell and Hewitson rolled 

 into one, with corrections, emendations, and important additions, 

 and with woodcuts as well as coloured plates, such a woi'k will be 

 Mr. Seebohm's when completed. 



Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn of 

 1881. By Messrs. Harvie Brown, Cordeaux, Kermode, 

 Barrington, and A. G. More. 8vo, pp. 101. London : 

 West, Newman & Co., Hatton Garden. 1882. 



Now that the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science has formally appointed a Committee to obtain observations, 

 and the Master and Brethren of the Trinity House, the Commis- 

 sioners of Northern Lights, and the Commissioners of Irish 

 Lights have concurred in sanctioning the co-operation of the 

 lighthouse-keepers and the keepers of light-ships all round the 

 coast, the questions affecting this subject of so much interest to 

 zoologists seem in a fair way of being solved ; albeit some con- 

 siderable time must elapse before a sufficient series of observa- 

 tions can be collected for utilisation. 



At present the matter stands thus : — The services of the 

 light-keepers have been enlisted on the east coast of Scotland at 

 29 stations ; on the east coast of England 36 ; on the west coast 

 of Scotland 40 ; on the west coast of England 40 ; and on the 

 Irish coast 40. In other words, there are at the present time 185 

 stationary observers on the look-out for the arrival and departure 

 of birds, with instructions to observe and note the time of day or 

 night at which the birds are seen, the direction of the wind and 

 the direction in which they are flying, and the temperature, and to 

 identify the species if possible, or to describe, as accurately as 

 may be, the general appearance as regards both size and colour. 

 They are supplied with printed forms to be filled up and trans- 

 mitted at the end of the year to the different members of the 

 British Association Committee, who have undertaken to collect 

 and report upon them. Thus the returns relating to Scotland 

 have been arranged by Mr. Harvie Brown ; for the east coast of 



