Watching Sea Birds. By Richard Perry. Groom Helm, London, 1975. 230 pages; 16 line-drawings; 2 maps. £4.75.
This is not really a new book but a reprinting of parts of two of the author's earlier books, both of which--Lundy Isle of Puffins (1940) and Shetland Sanctuary (1948)--are now out of print, though not difficult to obtain second-hand. The newly published version lacks some of the original detailed breeding chronologies and incidental discussions but has gained a series of attractive sketches by R. A. Richardson. An account of the breeding activities of Puffins, Kittiwakes, Razorbills and Guillemots on the island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel, and of Great Skuas, Arctic Skuas and Gannets on Noss in the Shetland Isles, takes up most of the book. Richard Perry was among the first of the early naturalists to record detailed observations of breeding biology and behaviour in the birds he watched; much of the information presented here is as original today as it was when first published. The book provides a valuable source of reference for modern workers in the fields of seabird breeding biology and recent studies, aided by ringing, have sometimes only confirmed Perry's speculations on the basis of his observations. There was some controversy over the counts of seabirds on Lundy given by Perry; this is referred to in the foreword of the second edition of Lundy Isle of Puffins. In spite of this, Perry's work illustrates the decline in numbers of birds on the island in 35 years.
