The Circulation of Birds
Within the space of three days astonishing evidence of the international interest in birds reached me. The coming of the survey and census of Palestine arrived simultaneously with a book from Scandinavia in which a Dane and an Englishman had co-operated in the making of a complete list of birds under their names in most European languages. It will prove very useful to the international groups which remained active even at the height of the war. Thirdly, my post was swollen by two volumes published by that most flourishing body, The London Natural History Society (apply to H. A. Toombs, British Museum, Cromwell Road, S.W. 7). Yet more surprising than the number . of birds that are found within the London area is the rarity of some of the species. Last year there bred within it " pairs of two of the rarest British breeding birds": two pairs of little ringed plover and half the six pairs of black redstarts known to nest in the British Isles. The record that most astonished me was the appearance of the great grey shrike at several spots. It is a quite fantastic fact that two new heronries were discovered last year, one in Essex, one in Middlesex. Do our birds, like our people, become more urban? The records are astonishing even if we exclude the rivers and reservoirs which are a paradise for duck, and have attracted rare grebes, oyster-catchers and the grey phalarope.
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