Scarce. The Proceedings of the 1999 British Ornithologists' Union Spring Conference, held at Southampton University, with a two-page editorial by the four editors and a two-page inaugural message from Elliot Morley MP, who was then the Minister for Fisheries and the Countryside (though that is not what he tends to be most remembered for). There are then 18 essays on subjects including such fine birds as skylarks, song thrushes, corn buntings, yellowhammers, linnets and red-backed shrikes (the latter now extremely scarce: I haven't seen one for years and years). These essays are now obviously not up-to-date, but they are packed full of information and ideas, and the situation for lowland farmland birds can (sadly) hardly be said to have improved, so they are still worth reading.