360 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



pointed rocks was perfectly deafening, and the force of the blasts was such 

 that it would have been the height of folly to have proceeded further." 



The account given of the habits of the Ruff and Reeve, as 

 observed in one of its last breeding-haunts in Norfolk, is very 

 entertaining. So also are the remarks which follow about Terns. 

 Writing of the last-named birds, Mr. Booth says : — 



" Many of the breeding stations to which the Common Tern resorted in 

 former days have been deserted. These birds are stated to have reared 

 their young in considerable numbers on several of the wide-stretching 

 shingle banks along the coasts of Kent and Sussex ; I doubt, however, 

 if a single egg has been laid on several of their former haunts in this 

 locality for some years. Common and Arctic Terns not unfrequently 

 breed in company. =- * * The only species I was unable to 

 identify on the Fame Islands were the Sandwich and Arctic, with 

 the exception of a single Roseate Tern [which was procured]. I was 

 not then aware that the Common Tern had been stated by several 

 authors to nest on these islands ; not a single specimen, however, 

 was observed. != * * From repeated observations concerning the 

 nesting habits of Terns, I am of opinion that the Common Tern usually 

 lays three, and the Arctic Tern invariably four eggs." 



The remarks on the migration of Terns in spring and autumn 

 as observed by the author (too long to be quoted here) will, 

 we are inclined to think, be new to many. Indeed, did space 

 permit, there are many pages in the last part of the work now 

 before us from which we should like to make extracts. 



But, as we have intimated on former occasions when noticing 

 the progress of this work, Mr. Booth's ' Rough Notes ' should be 

 in the hands of every ornithologist to be perused at leisure. 

 Especially should it be studied by those who are pleased to 

 assert that British Ornithology is " played out," and that there 

 is nothing more to be learnt on the subject. We venture to 

 think they will find in these pages a very great deal that they 

 did not know before, and of which most probably they never 

 dreamed. Mr. Booth is candid enough to tell us of his failures 

 as well as his successes, and young and ardent ornithologists 

 would do well to profit by his varied and pleasantly told 

 experience. 



