May 31, 1906] 



NA TURE 



THE BIRDS OF THE ISLE OF MANJ 



'I' HE present volume forms an addition to the now 

 •^ considerable list of tliose well-known and trust- 

 wt)rthy '■ Faunas " of coimties or special areas which 

 have from time to time issued from the publishing 

 house of David Douglas in Edinburgh. It is not an 

 unworthy companion to them. The majority of its 

 predecessors, however, have included the complete 

 vertebrate fauna of the region dealt with, and, re- 

 membering the limited area of the Isle of Man, the 

 present volume might well have done the same with- 

 out increasing very seriously the labours of the author 

 or the size of the book. It would then have been 

 a useful complement to the " Vertebrate Fauna of 

 Lakeland," by the late Rev. II. A. Macpherson, in 

 the same series, and would have filled a blank. 



It is rather surprising that, amid the numberless 

 local faunas that have been published, we have as yet 

 no complete work on the natural history of the Isle 

 of Man, considering the numerous contributions, scat- 

 tered, no doubt, through many periodicals, to its 

 botany, zoology, geology, and antiquities that have 

 been made by excellent and 

 systematic observers from the days 

 of Sir William Jardine and 

 Edward Forbes onward. The 

 present very complete volume on 

 the birds is, however, heartily 

 welcome. Its author, Mr. Ralfe, 

 is well known in ornithological 

 literature as one who has devoted 

 much time to the study of the 

 feathered fauna of his native 

 Mona, " in the intervals of daily 

 occupation and in more than usual 

 isolation from the resources of 

 science." He fully acknowledges 

 his indebtedness to Mr. Kermodc, 

 whose name also, as he indicates, 

 might well be bracketed with his 

 own on the title-page, so in- 

 timately have they been associated 

 together in bird-observation and 

 record. 



The detailed account of the 

 species frequenting the island is 

 prefaced by an introductory 

 chapter containing sections on, 

 among others, the topography of 

 Man ; on the history of Manx 

 ornithology, in which the chief 

 writers and their contributions are 

 referred to; on Manx bird-names, 



so often expressive and musical ; and on migration 

 in Man. The latter is very disappointing. From so 

 competent an ornithologist as Mr. Ralfe, with his 

 residence on the island, which is a special rest-place 

 on the main west coast fly-line, we might have looked 

 for that chapter on the autumn and spring move- 

 ments of the migratory stream which has yet to be 

 written. 



Nestling in the large north-western bight between 

 England and Scotland, the Isle of Man has relation- 

 ships with Lancashire, Lakeland, the three southern- 

 most Scottish counties on its northern side, as well 

 as with Ireland. Mr. Ralfe has carefully noted this 

 relationship, where possible, by reference to the 

 work of Service, of Gray and Anderson, of Mac- 

 pherson and Mitchell, of Aplin, Coward and Oldham, 

 and of Ussher and Warren. If we compare the 

 number of species of birds recorded from Lancashire, 

 P. n. Ralfe Pp. Iv -1-321 



as a neighbouring, accurately defined and well-worked 

 area, with that from Man, we have 269 species from 

 the several-times-larger county, against 183 from the 

 smaller isle, indicating a fairly rich avifauna, not- 

 withstanding its disadvantageous isolation, its bare 

 heights, and its poverty in woodland and shrubberies. 

 There are 75 residents and 18 summer visitors among 

 the 93 nestmg species of Man, against the 93 resi- 

 dents and 43 summer visitors comprising the 136 

 breeding birds of Lancashire. " Almost all birds 

 generally distributed through the British Isles, at least 

 as far as our latitude, are present. . . . Man agrees 

 with Ireland and differs from the opposite counties of 

 England in the absence or rarity of various small 

 summer migrants," such as the garden warbler, red- 

 start, tree-pipit, woodpecker, and others. The island, 

 however, " is rich in rock-breeding coast birds, but 

 rather lacking in shore-frequenting waders." Such 

 is a summarised account. 



The author has narrated concisely all that is worthy 

 of record about the commoner species, reserving 

 his space for fuller details in the history of others 

 of special interest to the island. We find in regard 



-Nesting-pla 



NO 1909, VOL. 74] 



■ The Birds of 



to the carrion crow that it is the grey-headed form 

 which is resident in Man, while the black race is 

 practically absent, and, therefore, the island follows 

 Scotland and Ireland and differs from England in 

 the distribution of this bird. The following problem- 

 has often presented itself to us : — Wheri the di- 

 morphic forms {comix and corone) of this species 

 interbreed in considerable numbers on the border-line 

 {i.e. along the line from the Firth of Clyde to the 

 Adriatic) of their defined areas, and rear families of, 

 say, three individuals of the comix and three of the 

 corone race in each nest, what induces the " grev- 

 necks " on the approach of the breeding season to 

 hurry off to their proper side of the line, while their 

 black nest-fellows feel constrained to reside to the south- 

 ward of it? Ornithologists will be gratified to have 

 Mr. Ralfe 's assurance that the chough is not diminish- 

 ing in numbers, but displays its scarlet beak and 

 legs " abundantly on the steep brows which fall 

 from the rocky hill-tops to the .... luxuriantly 



