Recently published Ornithological Works. 369 
and we must await the Final Report before definitely criti¬ 
cizing ; but certainly a good beginning has been made by 
studying the bird in its normal state and the conditions on 
which the health of moors depends ; while beyond this Mr. E. 
A. Wilson reports on the specimens examined and their crop- 
contents, Mr. A. E. Shipley on the Parasites, Mr. J. C. Fryer 
on the Insect Life of Grouse Moors, Mr. H. Hammond Smith 
on the observation-area established at Frimley, in Surrey, and 
Mr. R. H. Rastall on grits found in the gizzards of Game Birds. 
Full discussions of the Bacteriology, the Causes of 
Mortality, the Economic Value of Grouse Shootings, and 
especially the subject of Heather-burning, so important a 
factor in the health of a moor, have been held over until the 
Final Report stage. 
36. e Irish Naturalist.’ 
[The Irish Naturalist. A Monthly Journal of General Irish Natural 
History. January to December 1908.] 
Comparatively few papers on Ornithology are to be found 
in the pages of the ‘ Irish Naturalist 3 for last year, but in 
April Hr. Scharff writes on the Determination of Sex in 
the Woodcock, in June Mr. A. Williams discusses Bird- 
Protection in Co. Dublin, followed by an article in September 
on Bird Life in Dublin Bay, and in October Prof. Patten 
gives an accout of his ee Rambles on Achill Island/' 
Unfortunately Dr. ScharfF’s careful investigations were 
fruitless, and no reliable distinguishing character could 
be discovered between the male and female Woodcock. 
Mr. Williams’s papers will be read with interest, and the 
titles speak for themselves. Prof. Patten spent more than a 
fortnight in September in Achill, and occupied himself in 
watching and photographing the interesting birds he met 
with, but he does not furnish us with any new records. 
In the “ Notes ” we may call attention to accounts of the 
overland flight of Sea-birds by Messrs. Praeger, Harvie- 
Brown, and Ussher; to the first occurrence of Richard’s 
Pipit in Ireland (p. 59); to observations on Great Shear¬ 
waters and Fulmars off the coast by Mr. Ussher; to notices 
