New and forthcominy Ornithological Works, ^c. 185 



and extent of the disti'ibution of species in general. In this 

 light all instances of the occurrence of stragglers beyond their 

 usual limits cannot be too frequently or too carefully recorded. 

 The instances where species become established by accidental 

 means may be few and far between ; and, as a rule, stragglers 

 obtain no foothold for the species to which they belong : but 

 who can tell when the exception may take the place of the 

 rule? We should have liked to have seen the usual range of 

 many of the stragglers mentioned in this work given. For in- 

 stance, there is nothing to show which of the four quarters of 

 the globe Tringa rufescens and T. pectoralis inhabit. Such in- 

 formation, it is true, is easily obtained ; but a few words in each 

 case would have sufficed to impart much instruction to those 

 whose opportunities of making references are limited. 



Mr. Harting has lately published two works bearing upon 

 ornithology*, but which hardly call for comment here. With 

 regard to the first, we must confess that we put it down with 

 a somewhat uneasy feeling that shore-shooting was hardly legi- 

 timate " sport ; " and we trust it will never become popular. 

 We admit the enjoyment of a good day's shooting ; but whence 

 comes our satisfaction ? We sometimes suspect that the life- 

 and-death necessities of old savage days have still something to 

 answer for ; and that what we now call the enjoyment of sport 

 is an inheritance of the nature of an instinct, from long-past 

 times, when successful or non-successful chase was a matter of 

 the utmost moment, as involving the acquirement of a suffi- 

 ciency of food, or the reverse, and its consequences. No such 

 necessities now exist ; and we should like to look forward to a 

 time when birds will afford many of us a purer enjoyment than 

 now, derived from watching their movements and habits, without 

 taking their lives and harrying their nests. We do not really 

 want " shore-birds " for food, and the requirements of science 

 are soon satisfied ; why then shoot them five or six at a shot ? 



In 'The Ornithology of Shakespeare'f, Mr. Harting has 



* Hints on Shore-shooting, with a chapter on skinning and preserving 

 birds. By .James Edmund Harting. London, 1871 (Van Voorst). 



t The Ornithology of Shakespeare, critically examined, explained and 

 illustrated. By James Edmund Harting. 8vo. London, 1871 (Van Voorst). 



