Recently published Ornithological Works. 129 



book cannot be considered wholly satisfactory, as somewhat 

 too much reliance is at times placed on the testimony 

 of little-known authors, while the works of F. O. Morris 

 and "A Sou of the Marshes" are apparently accounted 

 " standard " and are placed on a level with those of Yarrell 

 and so forth. 



The Charterhouse School collection of birds, selected from 

 that formed by the late Mr. William Stafford of Godalming, 

 has nevertheless given the author a firm basis of facts on 

 which to ground liis structure ; and, as he is most careful 

 to inform us what his authority is in each instance, we can 

 judge for ourselves how far it may be trusted. 



A bibliography is followed by an introduction of 31 pages, 

 in two nearly equal parts, which consists firstly of an account 

 of the natural features of Surrey g•i^eu in a most full and 

 pleasing manner, and secomily of a bibliographical portion 

 of considerable value. The illustrations consist of six 

 admirable photogravures of local scenery after L. Daniehson, 

 and thirteen reproductions of drawings by Mrs. ]Jell and 

 H. W. Murray, with a map of the County. 



The book is evidently the work of one who is thoroughly 

 conversant with the district, though he is careful not to 

 state with undue precision the exact habitat of the rai'cr 

 breeding species. 



,5. Butler on the Birds of the Andamans and the Nicobars. 



[The Birds of the Audanian and Nicobar Islands. Bj A. L. Butler, 

 F.Z.S. Jnurn. Jionibay Nat. Jlist. Soc. xii. pp. o86, ooo, 684 ; xiii. 

 p. 144.] 



Mr. A. L. Butler, F.Z.S., Curator of the SeJangor State 

 Museum, visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1897 

 and 1898, staying about nine months at Port Blair, and six 

 weeks on some of the Nicobar Islands. In the present 

 memoir he gives us an account of his own researches into 

 the bird-life of the two groups, and compares them with the 

 observations of jNIessrs. Hume and Davison in ISZS"^. 



* See Mr. Hume's articles in ' Stray Feathers/ vol. ii, pp. 29-334 and 

 pp. 490 oOl ; al.so op. cit. vol. iv. pp. 279 294. 



SER. VHI. VOL. I. K 



