BOOK NOTICES 189 



consideration. It is intended for the novice, and hence the style is 

 simple, and the subject-matter limited to the description of 

 comparatively cheap apparatus. Many hints, indeed, are given upon 

 the construction of home-made appliances which, for a time at 

 least, may serve the amateur of limited means. The photographs 

 which are reproduced as plates are excellent, and prove the author 

 to be skilful in the art, and quite competent to instruct his readers. 



A Catalogue of the Vertebrate Fauna of Dumfriesshire, by 

 Hugh S. Gladstone, M.A. Dumfries : J. Maxwell & Son, 

 1912. 5s. net. 



Those who simply wish to know what Vertebrates occur or 

 have occurred in the county, and their status therein, have their 

 want reliably supplied by Mr Gladstone's catalogue. The fact that 

 it has been drawn up by the author of the Birds of Dumfriesshire 

 is sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of the Bird portion, while 

 the other sections (Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Marine and 

 Freshwater Fishes) all bear evidence of similar careful work. The 

 fairly long list of fishes includes a number of freshwater species — 

 Lochmaben Vendace, Carp, Chub, Rudd, Gudgeon, Tench, and 

 Common Bream — but little known in Scotland, and some, if not 

 all of which were doubtless originally introduced. The catalogue, 

 which extends to 80 pages, exclusive of a short introduction, is 

 nicely got up, with a map of the county at the end. 



The Birds of Northumberland and the Eastern Borders, 

 by George Bolam. Alnwick: Henry Hunter Blair, 1912. 

 Price 15 s. 

 Although an important volume dealing with the vertebrate 

 fauna of an almost identical area, that of Tweed, has recently 

 appeared, yet Mr Bolam's book from its richness in detail and in 

 original observations is in no way to be regarded as superfluous. 

 Like all works in which personal experiences bulk large, the book 

 has a special value of its own. The author lived long in the area 

 upon whose birds he writes so exhaustively and so well. In addition, 

 he affords excellent field-notes on the habits of the various feathered 

 inhabitants of a country which is naturally and historically attractive, 

 and these render the book eminently readable. If the book has a 

 fault it is due to the raids made by the author beyond the borders 

 of his prescribed area, especially his incursions northwards. These 

 have led him to ascribe to the wrong authority some recent and 

 interesting discoveries made at the Isle of May, quite unintentionally, 

 we are sure ; and to resuscitate an erroneous record of the American 



