48 NATURAL SCIENCE. Jan.. 



language, the most important points in the structure of birds. This 

 is as it should be, and we wish all success to the completion of the 

 work. 



From Messrs. Warne we pass to Messrs. Allen, of whose 

 Naturalist's Library we have two volumes before us. The publishers 

 of this meritorious series of popular handbooks have been singularly 

 fortunate in securing the assistance of members of the British Museum 

 staff, who possess in an eminent degree the proper qualifications for 

 elaborating the subjects apportioned to their individual share. In 

 fact, a marked improvement in books on birds generally is the 

 trouble that experts of the first rank, like Dr. Sharpe, are willing to 

 expend in convincing gainsayers that birds should be regarded as 

 exhibiting a great variety of structure, and that consequently they 

 ought to be made the subject of much thoughtful study. It is not 

 enough that the ornithological student should be a field observer. He 

 ought also to have a competent acquaintance with the anatomy of 

 birds, and be capable of giving a reason for the views which he holds 

 on the general classification of the Class. In pursuance of this idea. Dr. 

 Sharpe devotes a fairly large share of the space at his disposal, in the 

 present volume, to stating with admirable lucidity and circumspection 

 such details regarding the structure of different genera of British 

 birds as a young and intelligent student may be expected to assimilate 

 easily. Another praiseworthy feature is the amount of information 

 given as to the range of so-called " British " birds outside the limits 

 of our islands. The attention devoted to this point is calculated to 

 broaden the views of the reader, and to banish any insular prejudices 

 which he might otherwise retain. Dr. Sharpe treats in the present 

 volume of a variety of birds, from owls to woodpeckers ; but the birds 

 of prey (as regards which Dr. Sharpe has long been our first authority) 

 seem to form its major part. We should add that Dr. Sharpe has 

 enjoyed the privilege of consulting the notes on AnatidcB of Count 

 Salvadori, who is at present engaged upon the twenty-seventh volume 

 of the " British Museum Catalogue." He has therefore been able, in 

 a marked degree, to take advantage of the researches of his 

 distinguished colleague. We trust that Dr. Sharpe may be able to 

 give us the third and fourth volumes of his British birds in the course 

 of next year. 



Ogilvie-Grant has already contributed many papers on game 

 birds to the Ibis. He has also found time to write a British Museum 

 Catalogue of game-birds, which is in all respects a model of what 

 such a catalogue ought to be. On the present occasion he treats the 

 subject in a fresh and graphic style, which will be sure to commend 

 itself to all the sportsmen and lovers of wild nature who may have 

 the good fortune to read his new work. Primary importance seems 

 to be attached to the descriptions of plumage, especially as regards 

 the differences between the sexes, which are often puzzling when the 

 student is dealing with plain-coloured birds. Thus, a full-page plate 

 is furnished to illustrate the external differences which Mr. Grant has 

 discovered to distinguish the male and female of the common 

 partridge. Similarly, the admirable coloured plates which recently 

 appeared in the Annals of Scottish Natural History, intended to explain 

 the author's researches into the changes of plumage of the red 

 grouse, are here introduced to a wider number of readers. They 

 should be useful in advancing still further our knowledge of the 

 distribution of the various types of that most varying species. But 

 it must not be supposed that our author confines his attention to the 

 dry and technical details of plumage which experts look for. On the 



