119 



Mr. Beavan should have thought it necessary to say 

 anything about it at all. 



His gunning practice, we are pleased to find, was 

 not always as bad as the above, (he seems to have 

 been scarcely ever without this implement) — for we 

 read of how " many a time " our lover of birds used to 

 sail up to a rock and fire into a group of penguins, and 

 then at the risk of his life jump ashore and hurriedly 

 seize his prey with the boat painter still in his hand. 

 On tlie River Plate he also had good sport with duck 

 and teal by " letting fly into the thick of them." He 

 used "often to fill a sack with them" in the subsequent 

 practice on the circling birds. We also find an in- 

 teresting account of the shooting of three gallinazas, 

 the latter two of which were " peering first at the dear 

 departed and then inquiringly at me." In fact the 

 book so abounds with such reminiscences that in our 

 opinion its title might well have been "Birds That 

 Have Met Me," 



Tlie book is profusely illustrated, the frontispiece 

 being a reproduction of Wolfi"'s delightful drawing of 

 Golden Eagles and their young. As to some of the 

 rest we can only express surprise that money should 

 have been spent in their resuscitation. 



The Birds of the British Islands. By Charles Stonham, C.M.G., 

 F.R.C.S., F.Z.S., with illustrations by L. M. Medland. 

 Part V. Roy. Quarto, 7/6. Grant Richards. 

 To review some books is a tribulation of the spirit 

 and a weariness of the flesh : to sit down to the con- 

 sideration of Mr. Stonham's classic is a pleasure and a 

 joy, whether one regards its literary polish, its orni- 

 thological accuracy, or its artistic beauties. With 

 respect to the first it stands out in sharp contrast with 



