March 15, 1906] 



NA TURE 



405 



A NEW COUNTY BIRD-BOOK.' 



A BOOK on the birds of Hampshire and the Isle 

 ■**- of Wight fills up a blank in the list of English 

 county avifaunas, and is a particularly interesting 

 instalment of the series. Few, if any, districts in 

 Gnat Britain surpass this in the attractions it 

 possesses for the field naturalist, its natural features 

 presenting a greater variety than is usually to be 

 found in an area of similar limitations, large though 

 this county is. If it boasted of nothing more than 

 the far-famed New Forest, the happy hunting-ground 

 of so many naturalists, Hampshire would furnish 

 material for a good bird-book. But in addition to its 

 woodlands it embraces open downland and hills, culti- 

 vated country and a varied coast-line including the 

 muddy estuaries and harbours of the mainland and 

 the famous cliffs of the " Island." It is not, there- 

 fore, surprising to find the district credited with a list 

 of 127 resident birds and summer visitors, which re- 

 main to breed, in addition to 70 

 winter visitors, 36 occasional visi- 

 tors, and 61 species of so rare occur- 

 rence that the authors are obliged 

 to attribute their appearance to 

 accident. With regard to the occur- 

 rence of rare visitors on migration, 

 the authors point out that the light- 

 houses and vessels (to which are due 

 the discovery of so many waifs) on 

 this coast are not good stations for 

 observation. 



Hampshire has not been less 

 fortunate in her naturalists and her 

 natural historians than in her 

 natural features. From the days of 

 Gilbert White onwards the birds of 

 Hampshire have been studied and 

 loved by many notable people. 

 Hardly less known than the 

 "Natural History of Selborne," we 

 have the immortal " Instructions to 

 Young Sportsmen " of Colonel 

 Peter Hawker, and his more re- 

 cently published "Diary"; Gilpin's 

 " Forest Scenery " and Wise's 

 "History of the New Forest." 

 These, added to the writings on 

 local birds of the Rev. C. Bury, 

 Captain Henry Hadfield, Prof. T. 

 Bell, Mr. A. ' G. More, the Rev. 

 Richard Warner, Mr. G. B. Corbin, 

 Mr. E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, and 

 others, have furnished the authors 

 with a wealth of material stretch- 

 ing back to a time when little atten- 

 tion was paid to ornithology. But besides these more 

 pronounced naturalists, famous men of letters, and 

 women, too, have made some mention of Hampshire 

 birds — Kingslev and Tennyson, and Jane Austen and 

 Charlotte Yonge — while the modern maker of books 

 has not left them alone. 



In collections, too, the county is rich, and that of 

 Mr. E. Hart (without whose assistance no history 

 of Hampshire birds could be complete) at once sug- 

 gests itself as of preeminent importance. The strictly 

 local collection at Heron Court contains many his- 

 torical specimens, while the eggs owned by Dr. Rake 

 arc of exceptional interest, many of them being re- 

 ferred to in Wise's " Historv of the New Forest." 

 The work has been excellentlv planned and carried 



1 " The Birds of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight." By the Rev. J. E. 

 Ke'sall, M.A., and Philip W. Munn. Pp. xliv + 371 ; illustrated. t London : 

 Witherby and Co., 1905.) Price 15s. net. 



out. With such a wealth of historical facts available 

 the authors proposed not only to deal with the birds 

 as they exist at this moment, but to trace their history 

 in the writings of those who have gone before them. 

 The " Natural History of Selborne " forms the back- 

 bone of the work, and we have here for the first time 

 what White has to say (not only in his book, but also 

 in his still unpublished " Journal of Observations ") 

 about the birds of Selborne arranged in scientific 

 order. 



Of the more interesting species the authors have 

 given very extended notices, and of all these the 

 honey buzzard is the most important, on account of 

 its having been found in former years more commonly 

 in this county than in any other part of England. 

 Among other birds of which valuable accounts are 

 given may be mentioned the raven, buzzard, hobby, 

 Montagu's harrier, cirl bunting, hoopoe, and great 

 bustard. The breed of peregrines for which the Isle 

 of Wight was famous in the old days of hawking 



Black-headed Cull 



From " The Birds of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.' 

 , photograph by Mr. Smith Whiting. 



NO. 1898, VOL 73] 



still keeps a footing there ; and to turn from de- 

 creasing species, it is pleasant to read that the red- 

 shank is increasing as a resident; that White's 

 " clamouring " favourite, the stone curlew, is happily 

 still plentiful, and that the woodcock, shoveller, and 

 tufted duck are becoming more numerous as breeding 

 species. But whether the great increase in numbers 

 of the black-headed gull will prove an unmixed 

 blessing is perhaps open to doubt. 



A curious account is given of some merlins breed- 

 ing in Hampshire in the early 'sixties. The nests, 

 which were stated to have been found in such pre- 

 viously unheard-of situations as pollard hollies, and 

 holes in yew and beech trees, contained three eggs- 

 in each instance. We should certainly have been in- 

 clined to refer these. eggs to the kestrel had not the 

 male bird been shot from the nest in one instance, 

 and had not its skin, together with the eggs, been 



