54 



That it was only a stone is evident. " Every organ 

 in the body healthy except the liver, which was gan- 

 grenous." A gangrenous liver indeed ! Why not a 

 gangrenous heart ? or even a gangrenous head? And 

 with this liver, dead as a door nail, all its intimately 

 correlated organs healthy ! ! Why it is nearly as funny 

 as the dear little dicky-birds we know of— that die just 

 when they make up their mind to, although every 

 organ in their bodies also is perfectly healthy. Our 

 taxidermist is evidently a man of humour. But though 

 it is possible to forgive our learned brother his little 

 jokes, we really must draw the line at the bird-stuffer. 

 Him at any rate we should like to take seriously. 



W. Geo. Creswei^Iv. 



IReview. 



'- Birds oj the British Islands" by Charles Stoftham, C.M.G.. 



F.R.C.S., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., Senior Surgeon to the 



Westminster Hospital. With illustrations by L. M. 



Medland. 



This is an important work announced by Mr. 



Grant Richards, and is to appear in twenty parts, the 



first in April or May. The plates, which are un- 



coloured, are of large size, and of very high merit, so 



far as we can judge from the specimen before us. 



They are executed by a new process, and look exactly 



like original wash-drawings. They are certainly by 



far the finest black and white illustrations of birds 



which we have ever seen, but still they are black and 



white, and it seems open to question whether, at the 



high price of £^ 15s. net, a book with uncoloured 



plates will have a large sale. 



