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NOPE CH Sy Oa NAW 7 SOONG Ss 

Studies in Bird Migration. By Wiuttam Kacur Crarxkn. 2 vols. 
London: Gurney & Jackson. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd. 
Mr. Hacie Cuarke is pre-eminently qualified to write on 
this subject. In 1883 he was elected a member of the British 
Association Committee on the Migration of Birds as observed 
on the British and Irish coasts. He was afterwards entrusted 
with the preparation of the Reports, which revealed to him 
‘that, vast though the data were, much desirable information 
was still lacking.” This led to his special investigations, in- 
cluding a residence of forty-seven weeks in lighthouses and in a 
lightship, and fourteen weeks spent on the islands of St. Kilda 
and Ushant. Such, indeed, are no slight credentials, and orni- 
thologists may well consult these volumes with confidence and 
pleasure. 
The author is convinced that the phrase used by the late 
Prof. Newton, ‘“‘inherited but unconscious experience,” explains 
the migratory endowment of birds, especially when the journeys 
are undertaken during the hours of darkness. ‘‘ The Curlew 
Sandpiper is perhaps the greatest of all feathered voyagers. 
This species has its summer haunts in Western Siberia, where it 
nests on the tundras fringing the Arctic Ocean; yet its winter 
range extends to Cape Colony, Madagascar, Patagonia, Tasmania, 
and the Malay Archipelago. To reach these far-off cold-weather 
retreats, it crosses the lofty Himalayas; traverses the course of 
the great rivers of Northern Asia, and of the Volga, Rhone, and 
Nile, and skirts the coasts of Norway, Britain, Western Europe 
and Africa, and China. ‘Thus, during each year, certain Curlew 
Sandpipers perform journeys equal to a voyage round the 
world!” Such statements as these inspire a profound interest, 
and constitute the knowledge that gives a real meaning to that 
term so often used, ‘‘ the romance of animal life.”’ 
There is considerable difficulty in defining the exact position 
of some of our avian visitors, and the movements of these 
afford another example of the danger of too rigid definitions in 
bionomical zoology. Thus we read of the Starling: ‘‘In the 
