BibliograpMcal Notices. 391 



last-named species, it may be mentioned that while the work was 

 passing through the press the first authenticated cases of its breeding 

 in the Isle of Thanet occurred in 1874 and 1875, as recorded in ' The 

 Field ' of those years. 



The first two volumes include the Accipitres, Passeres, and Picariae. 

 There are no very great chauges in the first Order, but two species of 

 the large Northern Falcons are admitted as British in place of 

 the so-called Gyr-Falcon of former editions ; and the Black Kite 

 (Milvus migrans) is figured and described as a rare visitant — a great 

 deal of fresh information being added with regard to these and 

 other species. In the Passeres we find the following additions : — 

 Muscicapa parva, Lanius minor, Turdus atrigularis, Acrocephalus 

 aquaticus, Anthus spipoletta and A. campestris, Melanocoriipha 

 sihirica, Eiispiza melanocephala, Emberiza rustica and E. pusilla, 

 Serinus hoi'tulanus, and Pyrrhula enjthrina : all upon evidence that 

 cannot be disputed, besides additional matter concerning many others. 

 Not the least startling feature is the amalgamation of the Black 

 Crow (C corone) and Hooded Crow (C. comix) into one species, 

 regarding which much diversity of opinion exists in ornithological 

 circles. Another is the elimination from the British list of the 

 Black Woodpecker (Piciis martins) in default of any satisfactory 

 evidence of the occurrence of that species in the British Islands. 



When these two volumes had been finished, Professor Newton 

 was compelled by circumstances to rehnquish the editorship ; the 

 somewhat invidious task of succeeding such an author being, with 

 becoming public spirit, undertaken by Mr. Howard Saunders, whoso 

 name has long been specially connected with the Laridae ; and here, 

 again, the publisher is to be congratulated on having secured the 

 services of so able an ornithologist. The two volumes under his 

 charge — commencing with the Columbidae and ending with the 

 Anseres — comprise some extremely interesting additions to the 

 British list. Amongst them may be noticed the Sand-Grouse (Syr- 

 rhaptes paradoxus), whose irruptions into these islands in 1859 and 

 1863 must still be fresh in the memory of all who are interested in 

 birds ; the Great Black-headed Gull (Lams iclithyaetus) ; the Sooty 

 Shearwater [Paffinus fuliginosus) ; the Flamingo (Phoenicopterus 

 roseus), whose strange manner of nesting is depicted in the wood- 

 cut at the head of the article ; and the Snow-Goose {Chen hyper- 

 boreus). As an instance of the increase of our knowledge it 

 may be observed that at the date of the last edition the nidifica- 

 tion of the Black-winged Stilt {Himayitopus candidus) was so 

 imperfectly known that Hewitson only tells us that this bird " lays 

 its eggs upon the ground," while doubting that it lays as many as 

 four ; and Tarrell does not even commit himself to the former 

 assertion. Its nesting is now fully described, and, curiously enough, 

 it seems that, contrary to the habits of its neighbour the Avocet, 

 and of the Plovers generally, which lay their eggs in a hollow, this 

 bird sometimes, although not usually, builds a raised nest — a minia- 

 ture Flamingo's in fact — a habit rendered necessary, we imagine, 

 by the situation selected, on the mud by the margins of lakes. 



Amongst the birds which are no longer to be found in this work 



