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Letters

01 November 1999 Comments Letters Tombeur 's note on a pale Great Skua Catharacta skua in Iceland (Brit. Birds 92: 164-165) requires further comment. Judging by the `normal' bird, it looks to me as though the photographs, as well as one of the birds, are also pale. Allowing for this, I...

Looking back

01 November 1999 Comments Other `There is a point in connection with the song of birds which I have not seen mentioned, although it must have been noticed by many who are interested in ornithology; it is the differences in the note, or rather the tone of the note, of a bird, in diffe...

Report on rare birds in Great Britain in 1998

01 November 1999 Comments Main paper This is the forty-first annual Report of the British Birds Rarities Committee and it is an almost complete record of the rare birds recorded in Britain in 1998. Descriptions and, where available, photographs of each record have been scrutinised by a te...

Mystery photographs

01 January 1978 Comments Main paper Although plumage features are important in the identification of any bird, experienced field ornithologists tend to make much use of the way that it moves, its structure and its shape--the factors that go to make u p its 'jizz'. Mystery photograph 13 (...

Rare breeding birds in the United Kingdom in 1976

01 January 1978 Comments Main paper The main purpose of the Rare Breeding Birds Panel, already fully described {Brit. Birds 66: 172-174), is to provide a confidential repository for detailed information on scarce nesting species in the United Kingdom, so that changes in status can be mon...

The Scottish Crossbill: Loxia scotica

01 January 1978 Comments Main paper The promotion of the Scottish Crossbill Loxia scotica to specific status (Voous 1977) is more than just a systematic technicality of marginal interest to ordinary birdwatchers, but should not be given undue importance. The problems involved, however, a...

Editorial

01 January 1978 Comments Editorials Few birdwatchers are systematists or have any real knowledge of taxonomy and the reasons behind scientific nomenclature. We all, however, make constant use of classification: even non-ornithologists can recognise a duck as a duck or a thrush as a thrus...