

PREFACE. 



The year 1907 will be remembered by British ornithologists ; 

 it has marked the passing of two great authorities — Professor 

 Newton and Mr. Howard Saunders. It is also a year in which 

 a number of county bird volumes have appeared. We have been 

 able to draw attention in these pages to Mr. Patten's ' Aquatic 

 Birds of Great Britain and Ireland,' Mr. Whitaker's ' Notes on 

 the Birds of Nottinghamshire,' Mr. Davis's 'Birds of Kent,' 

 Mr. Nelson's ' Birds of Yorkshire,' and Mr. Haines's ' Birds 

 of Butland.' Our "Notes and Queries" are still recognized as 

 the storehouse for records on British Birds ; while annual 

 reports for Norfolk, Oxfordshire, and Surrey have received ample 

 and able treatment. 



Mammalia have not received quite so much attention as 

 usual. The recent completion of Mr. Millais's great work may 

 have probably, for the time, induced more reading than writing 

 on the subject. 



Pisces have been the subject of some excellent work in 

 this volume. Prof. Mcintosh's " Scientific Work in the Sea- 

 Fisheries " is of national importance. Prof. Clark has com- 

 menced a valuable "Annotated List of Cornish Fishes," while 

 other writers have given yearly records for their counties. 



The Insecta have not been neglected. Two points of great 

 biological interest have been described in Mr. Gahan's note 

 on a " Luminous Insect from Brazil," and in Mr. Shelford's 

 paper on " Aquatic Cockroaches." Economic entomology might 



