240



Revieivs, Notices, etc.



mudflats,” and so on. The result is a refreshing change from

the strict order followed by the more purely scientific, and con¬

sequently somewhat dry, arrangement of the majority of

works on British birds. But there is nothing in the least

unscientific in the book, in fact the author has in many cases

added particulars concerning the orders, families, etc., to which

the species belong. The book has been written by a most

careful observer and recorder of the wonders of bird life, and in

a stjde which commends itself especially to those who love the

woods and fields, who love to wander far from the madding

crowd and to be alone with nature.


We can strongly recommend the present work to those

who require an absolutely reliable, inexpensive, and very

interesting guide to the study of British birds.


There is a coloured frontispiece as well as several

beautiful process plates from drawings by Mr. Charles Whymper,

besides numerous cuts in the text.



ROSS’S SNOW GOOSE (CHEN ROSSI) BREEDING

IN CAPTIVITY.


In the current number of the Ibis Mr. F. E. Blaauw, C.M.Z.S.

gives a very interesting account of the breeding of a pair of these

rare Geese in his park atGooilust, Holland. In the year 1900 an

egg was laid by a solitary female of this species, and was exhibited

by Mr. Blaauw at a meeting of the British Ornithologists’ Club

in March, 1901. A year later a second living specimen of the

bird was obtained, which fortunately proved to be a male. The

birds soon paired, and in May, 1902, the female made a nest

which consisted of a slight depression in the soil, lined with dry

grass and roots, under a bush in her enclosure. Five eggs

were laid, and incubation lasted only 21 daj^s, wdiereas the usual

period with Geese is about 2S days. Mr. Blaauw accounts for the

very short term of incubation by the fact of this species breeding

very far north, where the summers are short, and consequently

the birds have but a short period in which to complete the whole

process of propagation.



