113 

 NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



A Concise Handbook of British Birds, by H. Kirke Swann, Editor of 

 "The Ornithologist." (London: John Wheldon & Co., 1896.) Foolscap 

 8vo., pp. viii. + 210, cloth, price 3s. 6d. 



Here, within the space of 210 pages, we have a carefully-condensed, and, 

 for the most part, reliable account of the British Avifauna. The volume is 

 a handy size for the pocket, is excellently printed, and the price brings it 

 within the reach of all. In his treatment of the subject, Mr. Swann has 

 adopted the plan of giving the habitat (i.e., "the region inhabited during 

 the breeding season," to which "the winter range of migratory species has 

 usually been added ") of the different species, followed by a description of 

 their plumages, their distribution in the British Isles, facts as to their 

 nesting and songs, and records of rare species. The book will doubtless 

 enjoy a wide circulation, and we have little hesitation in recommending it to 

 the notice of the reader. This much we will say, that for its size and 

 general usefulness, it is as cheap a book on British Birds as we know of. 



In reading through the volume, the following omissions have been 

 noticed. Coues' Redpoll, Linota exilipes, has no place in the list, although 

 a reference to " The Naturalist" for 1894, p. 84, will show that such rightly 

 belongs to this species— a specimen having been shot by Dr. H. B. Hewetson 

 in Yorkshire. More recently the Subalpine Warbler, Sylvia subalpina, has 

 been added to the British list (see Bull B. O. Club, iv. p. ix.) by Mr. J. S. 

 Elliot, but this species too has been overlooked. Moreover, the Hawaiian 

 Storm Petrel, Oceanodroma cryptoleucura, is dismissed without a word of 

 description, although it runs very close in plumage to O. leucorrhoa. The 

 omission is unaccountable, as a description is accessible in the latest British 

 Museum Catalogue of Birds (vol. xxv., p. 350) as well as in "Avifauna of 

 Laysan " (Pt. I. p. 53). 



We are sorry to find (p. 22) that the Dartford Warbler is recorded 

 as having bred in North Yorkshire. The evidence is of the slenderest 

 description, and it is impossible at present to regard the authenticity of 

 the occurrence as established beyond the possibility of doubt. 



Mr. Swann names the White-spotted Bluethroat Cyanecida icolfi. This, 

 however, is properly the scientific name of the race whose throat is 

 wholly blue — a bird which has no claim to a place in a work on British 

 Birds. The White-spotted form of the Bluethroat should be named 

 C. leucocyanea. 



A feature in the book before us that will commend itself to the notice 

 of ornithologists, is that the records of our rarer birds are here carefully 

 collected. It is to be regretted that the space at the disposal of the 



