Field Observations on British Birds

Abstract

THE late Dr. F. M. Ogilvie (1861–1918) was an observer of birds from boyhood, and he enjoyed considerable opportunities on the sea-marshes at Sizewell, in Suffolk, and on his property of Barcaldine, in Argyllshire, of following his bent. He was by profession an oculist, and in this, as well as in his hobbies of ornithology and orchid-culture, he showed “the vigour of an able man with the scientific interest, who was steadfast and thorough in all that he took in hand.” He published only a few papers, but he delivered eight popular lectures to the Ash-molean Natural History Society of Oxfordshire between the years 1902 and 1916, and these have been edited and put into publishable form by his friend, Mr. Henry Balfour, who has also added judicious footnotes. Naturalists, Mr. Balfour tells us in his preface, will find in these lectures “many shrewd and original remarks, based upon ocareful observations in the field, by one of the keenest and most cautious of ornithologists.” Of the young golden plover Dr. Ogilvie writes:

Field Observations on British Birds.

By a Sportsman-Naturalist (the late Dr. F. M. Ogilvie). Edited by Henry Balfour. With foreword by Mrs. J. Massie. Pp. xvi + 228 + vi plates. (London: Selwyn and Blount, 1920.) 25s. net.