448 Recently published Ornithological Works. 
to the craft of the numerous gunners who once frequented 
its shoals; and one of the valleys which thence stretches 
westward has yielded by far the majority of English examples 
of Scolopax sabiniij while another furnished the type speci¬ 
men of Botaurus lentiginosus* . Lord Ilchester’s swannery 
on the Fleet is probably unique in the world; for where else 
can be seen on one water upwards of a thousand living 
examples of Cygnus olorl Mr. Mansel-Pleydell has un¬ 
wittingly deprived his county of the distinction of having 
produced the sole European specimen of Picus pubescens; for 
the specimen which he records as shot near Whitby was a P. 
villosus (cf. Zool. pp. 2496 and 2985). A complete account 
of the Birds of Dorsetshire has yet to be written; but when 
that is done the present treatise will give valuable aid to the 
author, whoever he may be. 
The demand for works on the ornithology of particular 
districts seems to be ever on the increase; and within the last 
few years numbers of such books, of more or less merit, have 
made their appearance. The scene of Dr. Saxby’s f Birds of 
Shetland ’ f is well chosen, as the book treats of the ornithology 
of a group of islands situated at a sufficient distance from the 
mainland to render easy the question of boundaries, often 
perplexing to writers on county or local faunas. 
The chief excellence of Dr. Saxby’s book consists in its 
field-notes, which bear the stamp .of having been written 
almost out of doors. This merit often carries with it a cor¬ 
responding disadvantage, which we think observable in the 
present case. We notice a want of appreciation of the neces¬ 
sity of acquiring a well-digested knowledge of the external 
range of the birds found in the Shetland Islands. This is 
shown by the scanty references scattered through the work; 
Gray’s f Birds of the West of Scotland’ is occasionally quoted. 
The birds of the Faroes are barely alluded to, still less those 
of Iceland or the Scandinavian peninsula. It is in the pages 
* Montagu, Orn. Diet. App. pi. 
t The Birds of Shetland, with Observations on their Habits, Migration, 
and occasional appearance. By the late Henry L. Saxby, M.D. Edited 
by his brother, Stephen H. Saxby, M.A. Edinburgh : 1874, 8vo, pp. 398. 
