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The Gannet : a Bird with a History. By J. H. Gurney, F.L.S. 

 pp. lii., 568. Many illustrations. Witherby and Co. 

 27s. 6d. net. 



Mr. J. H. Gurney's monograph forms an attractive volume 

 of some 568 pages, copiously illustrated with maps and 

 reproductions from photographs, diagrams, etc. There are 

 also two coloured plates, one of which illustrates the nestHng, 

 while the other represents the eggs of this species. The 

 statement on the title page and repeated on pp. xv. and 

 368, that the figure of the young Gannet is drawn or repainted 

 by Joseph Wolf is however due to a misapprehension. It 

 is in fact reproduced from the original w^ater-colour sketch 

 by Dr. Cunningham and bears no trace of Wolf's master 

 hand. The figure, reversed and re-drawn by Wolf, appeared 

 in the Ihis for 1866, pi. i., and will repay careful comparison. 



The great value of Mr. Gurney's work lies in the careful 

 investigation which the author has carried out into the 

 history of each colony. Most of our knowledge of the birds 

 of our own country only dates from about a century ago, 

 and we owe a deep debt of gratitude to Dr. Cunningham, 

 Professor Newton, and Mr. Gurney for the careful and 

 painstaking way in which they have traced out the historical 

 references buried in the ancient "Inventories" in the 

 Record Office and in the works of long -forgotten writers of 

 the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. Few ornithologists 

 combine the qualities or training necessary for success 

 in this kind of investigation, and we are the more grateful 

 to Mr. Gurney for collecting and digesting this valuable 

 material so as to make it accessible to all. 



Perhaps we may be allowed to add to the list of 

 Naturahsts who have visited the Bass (p. 255) the name 

 of Ernst Fleischer, a personal friend of the Naumanns and 

 publisher of their works, as well as those of " Fugle " Faber. 

 He paid his visit at the end of June, 1820, and it was from 

 him that Naumann obtained the information which he 

 incorporated in his great work. 



No light is thrown on the question as to what is the cause 

 of the disappearance of the great majority of the young 

 Gannets during the first year or so of their existence and 

 their consequent scarcity at the great breeding-stations. 

 It is however a curious coincidence that immature birds should 

 be most numerous at the most inaccessible of our British 



