274 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vn. 



habits, especially the courtship displays, some of which 

 have not been previously described, are full and interesting. 

 The chapter on shooting will be read with delight by all 

 those who are keen in the pursuit of ducks, whether for 

 sport or collecting. The details given in the chapter on 

 rearing ducks (founded chiefly on Sir Richard Graham's 

 experiments at Netherby) will be of value to those who 

 enjoy this form of sport, and will provide food for reflection 

 to those of us who disapprove of the interference of the 

 natural distribution of birds, which must inevitably be the 

 result of such methods. 



On page 2 Mr. Millais separates the British Eider as a 

 new subspecies under the name of Somateria mollissima 

 hritannica, which he says is smaller than the typical form 

 and the Norwegian bird, but in his table of measurements 

 on page 4 there appears to be no difference in the measure- 

 ments of these three " forms " (measurement of total 

 length cannot, of course, be accepted as a character since 

 it depends upon how much the bird has been stretched 

 out !). Mr. Millais also says that the colouring of the bills 

 of the adult males appears to differ, but this supposed 

 distinction is not clearly set out, the colours being given 

 as : British — dull olive-green above, shading into French 

 blue-grey below, and agam into pale yellowish near the 

 nail ; Typical form — olive-green ; Norwegian— green. On 

 the evidence brought forward it is not possible to accept 

 as distinct from the typical form either the British or the 

 Norwegian birds. 



In conclusion, we must again draw attention to the 

 plates, which are a notable feature of the w^ork. They 

 are not only numerous and varied, both in subject and 

 treatment, but they are on the whole beautifully executed, 

 though those in the second volume are not, we think, 

 quite up to the high standard set in the first volume. 



H.F.W. 



