December i 2, 1907J 



NA TURE 



The bird-life of the borders is constantly changing 

 throughout the year, save, perhaps, just during the 

 heart of the breeding season ; and among all the 200 

 species of birds which may roughly be estimated to 

 form its feathered population, the author finds that 

 only fourteen are absolutely stationary. 



Interspersed among the regular sequence of the 

 chapters detailing the bird-life at different seasons, we 

 have accounts of the game-fish, migration, grouse- 

 shooting, and grouse-disease ; and a chapter of specific 

 bird studies dealing chiefly with some of the rarer birds 

 met with in, or which have recently extended their 

 range to, the district. Among the many bits of stray 

 information there are some very pertinent remarks on 

 the important question of heather burning and the 

 effect upon heather of black-faced sheep, which 

 manage, when forced by .sheer necessity, to retain 

 life in them by grubbing down into its roots. 



The chapter on the process of migration advances 

 some rather novel ideas. The author suggests, in the 

 first place, that no one has ever seen the process of 

 migration in actual operation, and that migratory birds 

 seen at lightships. &c., are not in the process of 

 migration, but at its termination, making good their 

 landfall ; and further, that the few birds one sees at 

 sea are merely waifs and strays. He disbelieves that 

 the journeys which small birds of little wing-power 

 perform are accomplished in the way that is ordinarily 

 accepted, i.e. by hard, straightaway flying. He says 

 that birds can reach, high in the air, regions and con- 

 ditions quite bevond human knowledge ; can sustain 

 life in rarefied atmospheres where mammals could 

 not; and mav there be able to rest without exertion, or 

 find meteorological or atmospheric forces that miti- 

 gate or abolish the labours of ordinary flight, or 

 possibly assist its progress. All this is very suggestive, 

 and facts are brought forward in support of these views ; 

 but much of it must remain conjectural, of course, and 

 extreme cold, and the stormy conditions supposed to 

 prevail at high altitudes, would, we think, have to be 

 considered. 



In the latter part of the book the wild-fowl of the 

 north-eastern coast, their haunts and habits, and the 

 wav to get at them with a big gun, are fully dealt 

 with ; but, unfortunately, the impracticable or inac- 

 cessible nature of their chosen haunts has left inquirers 

 much in the dark as regards the specific distribution 

 of the grev geese on those shores. As an account of 

 the local habits and distribution of the border birds, 

 this book is chiefly valuable — for the habits and the 

 nature of the haunts of birds differ in different dis- 

 tricts. To give one instance of this, speaking (and 

 doubtless drawing on his observations of the bird 

 somewhere or other) of the black-tailed godwit as a 

 former breeding species in Britain, the author says of 

 this country, "Nowadays there are no fens; conse- 

 quently no godwits." But this is not a necessary 

 consequence. On the Continent, this godwit is 

 known to breedjn good drained grass marshes, and 

 its nest has been found in a dry, sandy bean-field in 

 reclaimed lands. 



The author holds strong opinions, and perhaps some 

 of his conclusions will not be universally accepted ; 

 NO. T989, VOL. 77I 



possibly all the less so from his criticism of others, 

 and a slight reluctance to accept the observations of 

 some others as facts when they clash with his pre- 

 conceived notions ; and his distrust of what has not 

 been seen by himself. But we have no more readable 

 bird-book on our shelves, and the new edition will be 

 welcome to those who have for years been unable to 

 obtain the original one. Some of the author's draw- 

 ings and pen-and-ink sketches are very pleasing and 

 life-like. But with regard to the plate (not by the 

 author) supposed to represent a coot and two Sclavon- 

 ian grebes in full winter dress at midsummer, we 

 should certainly say that the heads of the grebes as 

 drawn— the shape and size of the beak, and the white 

 passing over and behind the eye — resemble more 

 closely those of crested grebes in winter plumage. 

 There is a map of the district, and a good index. 



(2) Mr. Davis points out that hitherto no book 

 dealing with the birds of the entire county of Kent 

 has been published, although the works of Messrs. 

 Dowker on east Kent, Prentis on the Rainham dis- 

 trict, and the present author on Dartford and the 

 north-west, have paved the way for a complete county 

 avifauna. The information to be derived from these 

 sources has now been brought together and supple- 

 mented by various records in the periodicals and 

 notes which have been furnished by observers in 

 various parts of the county. A short descriptiorl of the 

 eggs and nests has been given in most cases, and 

 something about the habits of the birds which are 

 resident in or regular visitors to the county. Unfor- 

 tunately, the author's personal experience relates only 

 to portions of the county, and the information re- 

 specting many of the birds can hardly be said to have 

 been brought down to date. 



Kent has given a name to no less than three birds 

 on the British list, and we naturally turn to them in 

 expectation of finding a full account of their history 

 and present status in the county. It is therefore 

 disappointing to find that the account of the Kentish 

 plover consists of little more than a reprint of Mr. 

 Farren's article in Country Life (most excellent in 

 itself) on the breeding habits of this little plover; 

 while of the Sandwich tern, discovered at the place of 

 that name in 1784, we are merely informed that " no 

 doubt they still breed on the Kentish coast." As to 

 the Dartford warbler, a perusal of the four and a half 

 pages devoted to this species, " probably more in- 

 teresting to the inhabitants of the town of Dartford 

 than any other bird," leaves us in doubt whether it is 

 still an inhabitant of Kent or not. Half a page is filled 

 with a quotation as to the discovery of a nest and eggs 

 of this bird in Yorkshire ; but this might well have 

 been omitted, since the Yorkshire authorities consider 

 the record is open to the gravest doubt, and refuse 

 to enrol the Dartford warbler on the Yorkshire list. 



We can only consider this little book as a further 

 instalment towards the adequate avifauna of Kent 

 which we still await. Iceland, where the chough 

 is said to breed, must be a misprint for Ireland. 

 The appendix includes a useful list of birds observed 

 in east Kent during the past twenty years by Mr. 

 H. S. D. Byron, received by the author too late for 



