The Irish Naturalui. 
January, 
REVIEWS. 
BIRD BOOKS, LARGE AND SMALL. 
The British Bird Book : Edited by F. B.- Kirkman, B.A. Oxon., Parts 
XI. and XII. London and Edinburgh : T. C. and E. C. Jack. 
Mr. Kirkman is to be warmly congratulated on the successful comple- 
tion of his great task in editing the " British Bird Book," of which, the 
concluding' sections (ii and 12) are now before us. The importance 
and value of the book must be universally acknowledged. That there 
were features in the scheme of arrangement to which exception might be 
taken was obvious from the first, and was hardly a demerit in the scheme 
itself. The aim of the contributors generally (but particularly of the 
Editor, in those parts for which he is directly responsible), has been to 
concentrate attention on the results of field study — in other words, on 
the habits of those birds that normally spend part of their lives within 
the British area. With this object a vast amount of individual observa- 
tion from many sources has been collated and presented so as to form 
a trustworthy and readable whole ; and the beauty of most of the illustra- 
tions (particularly the coloured plates) is such that we can only repeat 
our regret at the exclusion of a few species — for no apparent cause — from 
the distinction of having their portraits given. 
In parts XI. and XII., we have chapters on the Ducks, Ciconiiformes 
(Steganopodes and Herodiones of the more generally familiar classifica- 
tion), Petrels, Grebes, and Divers. Most of the articles in these sections 
are by Mr. Pycraft, but Mr. Jourdain deals with the Diving Ducks, Spoon- 
bill, Glossy Ibis, and Divers, while Mr. Hartert treats of the Cormorant 
and Shag, Mr. Kirkman of the Gannet, and the section on the Little 
Bittern is the result of collaboration between Messrs. Jourdain and R. B. 
Lodge. There are five important supplementary chapters, dealing with 
rare birds, structural characters, migration, the study of bird -behaviour, 
and bird -photography. To Irish naturalists (as such) the first of these 
will be of interest as exhibiting the attitude of the authors towards those 
American "strays" that have sometimes been .set down as bona -fide 
wanderers to our own shore, and at other times bracketed or ruled out as 
either inadequately vouched or quite incredible. 
Of these we find that the two Cuckoos (Black -bihed and Yellow-billed) 
which were bracketed by Mr. IJssher in deference to the sj^ecimen of Mr. 
Howard Saunders, are restored to their old position as genuinc'stragglers, 
while the American Goshawk is placed on the border line as possibly 
entitled to like acceptance. Otherwise, the brackets for Irish visitors 
correspond to those used in Mr. Ussher's list. The verdict on the Purple 
Martin in the Museum is that it was probably an escaped buxl, if genuine. 
The suggestion of an escape in the case of such a bird as a swallow sounds 
a little far-fetched. Even at the present day it would be one of the 
worst possible subjects for transportation in captivity ; and how this 
could have been done witli an American bird in 1839, when ocean voyages 
were much slower than they are now, nearly passes comprehension. 
