366 Recently published Ornithological Works. 
matter, especially as regards those species whose homes lie 
to the eastward, and is in most cases sufficiently full as well 
as accurate. But the author does not appear to have 
brought his information quite up to date with regard to the 
distribution of species in Britain, or, perhaps w r e should 
say, might advantageously give more ample details of that 
distribution in cases where fresh information has been 
acquired by those so carefully working at the British 
Avifauna. 
The Little Owl has now a far more extended range in 
England than that here assigned to it, and Bewick's Swan is 
numerous every winter in parts of the north-west of Scotland, 
and not only in some winters. Further particulars, moreover, 
might be added in the case of such Ducks as the Gad wall, 
Shoveled, and Wigeon. Mr. Dresser seems to imply that the 
Shoveler's nesting in Scotland is a matter of doubt, though 
it is known to do so in several parts, and the woodcut 
given depicts a nest from Fifeshire. Again, the Gannet 
is said to breed on Sulisgeir and Suliskerry.'' Now 
Suliskerry is a flat island (as a “ skerry '' always is), and no 
Gannet would think of nesting there. As is well known 
to residents in Northern Scotland, and may be gathered 
from such works as ‘ A Vertebrate Fauna of the Orkney 
Islands/ p. 160, the bird only breeds on (f Stack ” (or East 
Sulisgeir) and West Sulisgeir. The Stack is an almost 
inaccessible precipitous island and has no connexion 
whatever with “ Skerry.” 
With a few such exceptions the work is excellent, and 
gives us much information as to the new subspecies that 
have recently been proposed, though not invariably 
accepted by our author. It will be noticed that Mr. Dresser 
no longer maintains the specific title of Corvus leptonyx 
for Irby's Haven (C. tingitanus) and that he upholds the 
specific distinctness of the Grey-backed and Carrion Crows, 
while he appears to doubt the fact of the egg of the Cuckoo 
shewing a resemblance to that of the foster-parent, therein 
differing from the great majority of ornithologists. 
A printer's error of some importance is to be found under 
