File:British birds (1919) (20408619122).jpg

Title: British birds
Identifier: britishbirds1319191920lond (find matches)
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: London, Witherby & Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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KfWW5 A Synoptical List of the Accipitres (Diurnal Birds of Prey). By H. Kirke Swann, F.Z.S. Parts I. and II. (Wheldon & Co.) 4s. per Part. This List, which is clearly and well arranged, and contains much information in a compressed form, should prove of much use to ornitho- logists. The arrangement is systematic and much in the form of Sharpe's well-known Hand-LisL with the addition of a precis of the main characters of each genus and each species and subspecies. As in Sharpe's Hand-List, the general distribution of each form is given in a separate column. Part I. treats of the Vultures, Harriers, Gos- hawks and Sparrow-Hawks. In this part there is not much of special interest if we confine ourselves to the British List, but we note that Mr. Swann omits England as a place of accidental occurrence for the Egyptian Vulture, although he includes it under the Griffon. We may also note that he separates Goshawks generically from Sparrow- Hawks and that he treats A. atricapillus (recently added to the British List) as a separate species and not as a subspecies of ±he typical Goshawk. In Part II. we have Buzzards and Eagles. In a footnote under Buteo biiteo zimmermannce, the eastern European rufous form of the Buzzard, we find the interesting statement that of eight rufous British-taken specimens in the British Museum six appear to belong to this race and two to Buteo rufiventer (^desertorum), the south-eastern Europe and western Asian form, which Mr. Swann treats as a distinct species. If, therefore, Mr, Swann's conclusions were accepted, both these birds would have to be added to the long list of casual visitors to the British Isles. Some Further Investigations on the Food of Wild Birds. Bv Walter E. Collinge, D.Sc. This is a valuable paper contributed by Dr. Collinge to the Journal of the Board of Agriculture (Vol. XXV., No. 12, pp. 1444-1462, March, 1919) and contains details, accompanied by excellent diagrammatic representations of the percentages of food, of the Jackdaw, Starling, Chaffinch, Yellow Bunting, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Song-Thrush and Fieldfare. In the first number of The Journal of the Wild Bird Investiga- tion Society, which has just reached us, we find a paper on similar lines, but based on a small amount of material, on the food of the Barn-Owl. Life Histories of North American Diving Birds (Order Pygopodes). By Arthur Cleveland Bent. Smithsonian Institution Bulletin 107. In 1910 Mr. Bent undertook to continue the work so ably begun by the late Major C. E. Bendire on the life-histories of North American birds, and this volume is the beginning of his task. Whereas the previous volumes by Bendire were in quarto and illustrated by coloured plates of eggs, this is in octavo and has numerous excellent photographic plates of the birds, their nests and habitats. The scope of the original work is enlarged and the various items of information are arranged under headings. There is much in this excellent work to interest British ornithologists, since a number of the species of Grebes, Divers and Auks are the same as our own.

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