466 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
They have within these few years (1775) begun to infest the Isle 
of Col, where, being left by some trading vessel, they have 
increased for want of weasels to oppose them.” Messrs. Brown 
and Buckley make no allusion to this under the head of Brown 
Rat. Dr. Johnson is not known to have possessed much 
acquaintance with natural history, but he collected his informa- 
tion on the spot where his observations were written, and the 
statements of such an author are worthy of consideration. If 
he were in error, it would have been well to have pointed out his 
mistake. 
Martin, in his ‘ Description of the Western Islands of Scot- 
land,’ remarked (in 1703) that the Mertrick (or Marten) was 
pretty numerous in Harris, but our authors, in their account of 
this animal, do not take us farther back than 1777, quoting 
an observation of Pennant in his Preface to Lightfoot’s ‘ Flora 
Scotica.’ 
In the case of animals which have been introduced to the 
Inner Islands, as the Roe-deer has been in Islay, Mull, and 
Jura (fide Alston, ‘Fauna of Scotland,’ 1880, p. 25), or are indi- 
genous there, like the Long-tailed Field Mouse (Mus sylvaticus), 
it would have been useful, for the purpose of indicating the 
limits of their distribution westward, to have noted this. 
The plan of introducing the names of species which are not 
only unknown in the Hebrides, but do not occur in any part of 
Scotland, is, in our opinion, very inconvenient, and cannot be 
said to serve any useful purpose. It may be urged that it shows 
what forms are absent from the fauna, or are not known to 
occur, and may be looked for on the chance of their discovery. 
But this cannot be held to apply to such species as the Rock 
Thrush (Monticola saxatilis), Nightingale, Dartford Warbler, 
Savi’s Warbler, Bearded Tit, Gold-vented Thrush (Pycnonotus 
capensis), Scarlet Grosbeak (Carpodacus erythrinus), Needle- 
tailed Swift (Acanthyllis caudacuta), Russet-necked Nightjar 
(Caprimulgus ruficollis), Bee-eater, and many others which might 
be named, and which are not in the least likely to occur. The 
introduction of these names only tends to confuse the reader, 
and to unduly swell the list of species which have really been 
obtained or observed. 
Subject. to this objection, we have nothing but praise for a 
work which must have cost its authors an infinity of labour, and 
