424 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



tate the aim. Other assistance is rendered by the letter B 

 attached to a name, denoting " bred in Shropshire," while with 

 migrants the average dates of arrival and departure are also 

 given below the names. Many photographic plates of groups of 

 excellently "set-up" mammals and birds give a distinctive charm 

 to one of those volumes which are generally procured with avidity 

 by students and lovers of our British fauna. 



The Birds ofBreconshire. By E. Cambridge Phillips, F.L.S., &c. 

 Brecon : Edwin Davies. 



In the pages of this magazine there has appeared, from time 

 to time, a series of papers by Mr. Phillips on the Birds of Brecon- 

 shire. These were reprinted in 1882 for private circulation, and 

 the same re-written and considerably enlarged it is now our 

 pleasure to peruse and notice. " Breconshire is not a large county, 

 and is so well known that it needs but a slight description. It 

 embraces among its general features, in a marked degree, moun- 

 tain and moor, valley and hill ; it has one large lake, Llangorse, 

 with numerous mountain tarns, and is drained by the Usk and 

 partly by the Wye and their tributaries. Yet with all these 

 advantages of nature the ornithology of the county is not so 

 varied as might be supposed." 



The Kite (Milvus regalis) up to the year 1889 had increased 

 considerably, but in that spring many were killed, three or four 

 close to the town. Even now, however (1899), a few pairs still 

 breed, and are protected as far as possible in the county. The 

 Marsh Harrier (Circus ceruginosus) , which was formerly common 

 on the hills between the ' Storey Arms ' and Merthyr, is now, 

 unfortunately, supposed to be extinct. The Raven is generally 

 considered to live to an old age, but it is well to obtain actual 

 facts, and Mr. Phillips is able to refer to a bird which must have 

 been fifty years old when it was killed by a dog. Severe cold 

 causes strange messmates, and here we read of a Sparrowhawk 

 roosting close by some Bantams in a thick holly-tree in the dead 

 of winter; in similar weather a Jay was found feeding with the 

 poultry in an aviary, where it must have pushed itself between 

 the wires to get to the food. The varieties of food that birds 



