512 



NA TURE 



[September 20, 1906 



that the notion that the mistletoe thrush haunted apple 

 trees for the sake of eating mistletoe berries, and 

 hence got its name, is not confirmed by the bird's 

 actual habits ; but we have it on the authority of our 

 greatest living ornithologist (an opinion based on 

 personal observations) that the connection of the bird 

 with the mistletoe is no figment, as some have tried 

 to maintain, and that this thrush is exceedingly fond 

 of the luscious viscid berries of the mistletoe. 



While fully allowing that the attempt to put a bird's 

 note into syllables is in most cases a failure (so far as 

 people in general are concerned), there are exceptions, 

 and it would surely have been desirable in the interests 

 of the young field ornithologist to give in words as 

 many of the more remarkable bird-notes as lend them- 

 selves to this treatment. The " you-tick " of the 

 whinchat and the " twit me-dick " of the quail (from 

 which the birds take local names), the " hweet-tit- 

 tit " of the redstart and the " chuck-chucka " of the 

 red-legged partridge, are a few cases in point. But 

 to take the case of the curlew as here treated, no 

 mention is made of the fact that some of its varied 

 cries have suggested names for it, and the remark 

 that " the cry recalls some of the notes of the plover, 

 but is far more free and powerful," hardly seems to 

 convey an adequate idea of the curlew's characteristic 

 cries. We wonder if the song of the lesser white- 

 throat would strike most people as more " quiet and 

 unobtrusive " than that of the whitethroat. 



The descriptions of the nests and nesting habits are 

 especially successful, and will be most interesting to 

 experienced bird-nesters, as well as useful to the novice. 

 The coloured figures give, on the whole, a good idea of 

 the eggs, although some of the plates suggest three- 

 colour printing, and that one colour has obtained un- 

 due prominence. White eggs are merely figured in 

 outline, and the artist has succeeded in representing 

 the characteristic shape of average speciinens. An 

 index, which is all that can be desired, and a classi- 

 fied list of breeding species and regular visitors make 

 reference to the different species easy ; but we cannot 

 understand the application of the note to the latter, 

 that the visitors are distinguished by italics, for we 

 find very few naines so treated, and among them those 

 of both the yellow and the grey wagtails. 



Mr. Elms's thin voluine, which slides so easily into 

 the pocket that there is no excuse for leaving it 

 behind on a field day or omitting to take it out every 

 morning during the migration seasons, is intended 

 solely for the purpose of reference in the field. All 

 our British birds (properly so-called) are included, the 

 rare and accidental visitors or stragglers to our shores 

 hardly coming within the scope of the book, as the 

 chances of seeing them during a country ramble are 

 very slight. A vast amount of information has been 

 included in the small compass of this pocket-book ; the 

 plumage, period of residence in this country, language, 

 habits, haunts, and food are all treated concisely under 

 their several headings, as well as some particulars of 

 the nidification ; but in the last respect it is pointed 

 out that the present volume is intended to be used 

 and carried in conjunction with the new edition of 

 NO. 1925, VOL. 74] 



Newman's " Bird-nesting and Bird-skinning," which 

 is of the same size and issued by the same publishers, 

 and contains full particulars of the nests and eggs. 

 Some of the observations on bird language, those 

 on some of the gulls and terns, for instance, do not 

 appear to be altogether satisfactory, but this handv 

 little volume (which is furnished with a good index) 

 cannot fail to be of great service to the student of 

 field ornithology. 



,4 GUIDE TO BRITISH DIPTERA. 

 A Preliminary List of Durham Diptera, witli 

 Analytical Tables. By the Rev. W. J. Wingate. 

 Transactions of the Natural History Society of 

 Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon- 

 Tyne. (New Series.) Vol. xi. Pp. vii-t-416; with 

 seven plates. (London and Edinburgh : Williani> 

 and Norgate ; Newcastle-upon-Tyne : F. and W. 

 Dodsworth, 1906.) Price qs. 



THE author, or, as he would probably prefer to be 

 styled, the compiler, of this excellent manual 

 has done himself less than justice, for if, instead of 

 the modest title associated with the name of a single 

 English county, he had chosen some such designation 

 as that at the head of this notice, he would more 

 accurately have expressed the scope of his work and 

 would also, perchance, have brought the latter to tlie 

 notice of a wider circle of readers. 



Little by little budding entomologists in this countr\- 

 are beginning to realise that butterflies and motlis 

 and beetles are not the only orders of insects worth v 

 of study, and the number of those who devote their 

 energies to the files, or Diptera, though still small by 

 comparison with that of the students of the mure 

 popular orders, is steadily increasing. As Mr. Win- 

 gate truly remarks in his preface, no other order o( 

 insects " has so many interesting and varied life- 

 histories, and none so deeply affects the human race, 

 whether as protectors when acting the part of 

 scavengers, or depredators destroying the crops, or 

 scourges carrying the deadly micro-parasite." Un- 

 fortunately for the beginner, the bulk of the literature 

 dealing with European Diptera is in foreign tongues, 

 chiefly German, and. Walker's " Insccta Britannica "' 

 being hopelessly inadequate and out of date, it has 

 hitherto been impossible to satisfy the natural demand 

 of the novice for a work in English that, while supply- 

 ing an outline of the structure and classification of 

 Diptera, will at the same time provide the means for 

 the identification of the bulk of the British represent 

 atives of the order. The basis for all work upon 

 British Diptera is, of course, Verrall's " List," the 

 second edition of which was published in 1901. In 

 this are the names of 2884 species, and when it is 

 added that Mr. Wingate's tables, which are chiefly 

 derived from Schiner's classical work on the Diptera 

 of Austria, furnish characters for the determination of 

 no fewer than 2210 of these, it will be seen that the 

 present volume should go far towards supplying the 

 British student with precisely the aid that he requires. 

 In addition to those already mentioned, details are 



