Book Reviews

Abstract

MR. CORDEAUX is so well known as a careful and trustworthy observer of nature, that any work on his favourite subject, from his hand, must be read with interest. A residence of ten years in the district of which he writes, comprising North and Mid-Lincoinshire, and Holderness, has enabled him to gain a thorough familiarity with the times of appearance and departure of the birds which visit it. These points he has noted with great pains and precision, as is proved by the fact that he has been able clearly to trace the points of the district at which each of the migratory birds enter and depart, most doing so from the sea-coast, the grey wagtail, cuckoo, and common dotteril, being the only exceptions. The sections, of considerable length, devoted to the dates on which to expect the various wading birds, and the conditions of weather which cause these to vary, will be of great interest to sportsmen in the locality; the woodcock, snipe, and plover receive the fullest attention. Among the rare birds that are recorded as having been met with formerly, or of which one or more specimens have been shot lately, we find the cream-coloured courser, Macqueen's bustard (the only British example), Tengmalin's owl, and the tawny pipit. Most extraordinary of all is a jacamar in the collection of Canon Tristram, which was shot in 1849 by S. Fox, a gamekeeper, near Gainsborough; as the author remarks, “it must ever remain an ornithological puzzle how it could have reached this couniry.” We recommend this excellent little work to all ornithologists and sportsmen.