Letters

01 March 2006 Comments Letters When Garner (2005) reviewed the `Fair Isle sandpiper' (FIS), his reasoning that the bird was not a Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri seemed compelling. It is not possible for statistics to prove that the bird was one species or another, since it deals o...
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Letters

01 August 2002 Comments Letters As co-author of the paper `Ruddy Shelducks in Britain and Ireland, 1986-94' (Vinicombe & Harrop 1999), I was interested to read Andrew Harrop's recent paper `The Ruddy Shelduck in Britain' (Harrop 2002). Most of his paper, written on behalf of the ...
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Letters

01 February 2001 Comments Letters Although the concluding remarks of Vinicombe & Harrop's paper (Brit. Birds 92: 225255) were somewhat contradictory, it is now received wisdom that an influx of wild Ruddy Shelducks Tadorna ferruginea occurred in northern and southwestern Britain in...
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Letters

01 March 2000 Comments Letters I should like to suggest that the time has now come to review the value of the county bird reports in their present form, since, in principle, they have not changed their format in the last 50 years. The publication of systematic lists ever y year, oft...
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Letters

01 October 1937 Comments Letters SIRS,--In concluding his interesting comments under the above title, Mr. David Lack puts several questions (antea, p. 83), and a recent opportunity I have had of watching a t close quarters t h e pairing of Golderests, enables me to give a reply t o one a...
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Letters

01 September 1937 Comments Letters SIRS,--I think Mr. David Lack is clearly right in concluding from the scene he describes (antea, p . 82) t h a t the crest of the Goldcrest (Regulus r. anglorum) is an instance of ornamentation functioning as a " threatcolour", and used for t h a t purpo...
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