Abstract
THIS work does not purport to be a scientific treatise, but to be a record of many years' observations on the cetacea, birds, and fishes found commonly frequenting Belfast Lough. This lough is, in its way, almost classic ground to the naturalist, and in connection with the treasures to be found around its shores or in its waters, the names of Thompson, Hyndman, Templeton, Haliday, and that of the father of the author of this volume, will ever be associated. The lough is favourably situated for receiving the visits of birds, though the great and still increasing traffic through it must to some extent frighten away many a species; and in grandeur of beauty and variety of life it will not favourably compare with the fine fjord-like bays of Western Ireland. Mr. Patterson tells us that the greater portion of the matter in this volume was originally brought together in the form of papers, which were read at different times before the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, which will account in great measure for their style and for their being somewhat discursive; still the volume is for the most part pleasant reading, and every now and then we come across very interesting and novel facts. In the chapter about gannets we read a good deal about their great feeding powers, and the following estimate of how many herrings the Scotch gannets eat in a year is noteworthy; it is given on the authority of Commander M'Donald, of H.M. cruiser Vigilant. Of the five Scotch stations where the gannet breeds, the number of birds frequenting each is put down as follows:—Ailsa Craig, 12,000; the Bass Rock, 12,000; St. Kilda, 50,000; the Stack, 50,000; Gula Sgeir, 300,000, or a total of 424,000. Each of these birds would consume at least a dozen herrings in the day if it could get them; but estimating the daily average as six to each gannet produces 928,560,000 as the quantity consumed in one year, and reckoning 800 herrings to a barrel gives us 1,160,700 barrels captured by the gannets, as against 750,000 barrels, the total take by fishermen on the west coast of Scotland for 1872. Many more such extracts might we give, but our space is limited, and our desire is to send the reader to the volume itself. Almost everywhere throughout the work the author spells the specific names with capital letters, in this overlooking both the rules and practice of men of science. Sometimes, indeed, a specific name, if after a person or place, may be thus spelled without offence, but these exceptional cases should not be made the rule. The volume is dedicated to the memory of the author's father, Robert Patterson, F.R.S.
The Birds, Fishes, and Cetacea commonly frequenting Belfast Lough.
By Robert Lloyd Patterson. (London: David Bogue, 1880.)
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The Birds, Fishes, and Cetacea commonly frequenting Belfast Lough . Nature 22, 289 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/022289b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/022289b0