Recently published Ornithological Works. 449 
of the f Zoologist/ in which journal a large proportion of the 
notes in the present volume have appeared, that the author 
has sought his chief instruction. At the end of the work 
the editor has appended a list of the species observed in 
Shetland up to the present year; they are 202 in number, nearly 
a third of which were added to the Shetland list by Dr. Saxby. 
There are several birds included in the work, upon doubtful 
authority, which had better have been omitted altogether, 
such as the Cuneate-tailed Gull and Dusky Petrel; their 
insertion only gives rise to utterly unprofitable discussions 
as to whether the birds really were what the author supposed 
them to be. 
In a note speculating on the origin of the name Boat¬ 
swain 33 as applied to the Arctic Skua, the Editor does not 
appear to be aware that the same name is applied universally 
by sailors to the perfectly (so far as Gulls are concerned) 
inoffensive Tropic birds (Phaeton). It is w r eil known that the 
long tail-feathers of the bird of tropical seas are supposed to 
represent a marline spike. Whether the masterful manner of 
the Skua gained it the name of the “ Bosen,” and the long tail 
feathers were accounted for as being his marline spike, and 
the name was thus transferred to a bird which also carried a 
long tail, or the possession of a marline spike suggested the 
name of “ Bosen” in both cases, it is difficult to decide. We 
have not been able to find any authority for the supposed 
Scandinavian name “ Bosun,” suggested by Mr. Stephen 
Saxby, which, if really in use, may be only an adaptation of 
the English word. 
Mr. Brockholes^s paper on birds observed in Wirral, 
Cheshire, forms No. 1 of the f Proceedings of the Chester 
Society of Natural Sciences/ and contains notes on 168 species 
which have occurred in the district. Wirral, we believe, is 
that part of the county palatine which lies between the estu¬ 
aries of the Dee and the Mersey. So situated, we should 
have thought the number would be larger; but to make it 
up the author has been compelled to enlist the Black Swan 
( Cygnus atratus) in his forces, though he admits that he is 
u not certain that the bird referred to was really a wild one.” 
SER. III.-YOL. IV. 2 I 
