1893. SOME NEW BOOKS. 67 
to the probability of its being the ancestor of the domestic breeds. 
The most interesting of all is, however, the seventh chapter, which 
treats of the Pyrenean wild goat. Mr. Buxton says that, in contra- 
diction to the true Ibex, this animal largely frequents scrub-jungle, 
and he points out—we believe for the first time—that the inward 
inclination of the tips of its horns is evidently adapted to passing 
with ease among bushes, the true Ibex, which inhabit open country, 
having the tips of their horns divergent. 
Other chapters, relating to Reindeer and Bear, do not call for 
special notice, and we accordingly conclude by congratulating both 
author and publisher on the production of a work which, while 
written professedly for the sportsman, contains much that is 
deserving of the best attention of the naturalist. Re Ee 
Our Country’s Birps, AND How To Know THEM. By W. J. Gordon. Crown 
8vo. Pp. viii., 152. Illustrated. London: Day & Son, 1892. Price 6s. 
Mr. W. J. Gornpon is already well known as the author of ‘“ Our 
Country’s Flowers,” which has attained a well-merited reputation as 
a handy and convenient guide to the British flora. In the work 
before us he has treated the birds of Britain in a somewhat similar 
fashion, the result being a volume which contains, perhaps, more 
information in a small compass than any other of equal size which 
has come under our notice. The great feature of Mr. Gordon’s work 
is that every species is illustrated, and that, too, by a coloured figure, 
and since these figures have been executed by Messrs. Willis and 
Holding, any comment as to the excellence of their execution would 
be superfluous. Mr. Gordon, we are glad to see, rather ridicules the 
idea of including such birds as the Flamingo under the title of British, 
but as the species has occurred in the British islands, he is perforce 
compelled to include it in his list. 
The great object of the volume is to enable any person to identify 
any bird he may happen to come across in the British Islands, and 
for this purpose Mr. Gordon provides us with an elaborately worked- 
out system of ‘‘keys.” He is, however, careful to add that this is 
merely an empirical method, and has nothing to do with classifica- 
tion. Other chapters deal, however, fully with the classificatory 
portion of the subject, in the course of which the peculiarities of the 
bones of the skull in the different groups, as well as the subject of 
pterylosis, are briefly but carefully treated. An unique feature in 
the book is the series of tables of dimensions of all the British species. 
We may point out that in including Pandion among the Falconide 
the author is not up to date, we ourselves being persuaded of the 
correctness of the view that this genus represents an order connecting 
the Accipitres with the Striges. We cannot, moreover, accept the 
inclusion of all the Passerines in a single family ‘‘ Passeridz.”’ 
These, however, are comparatively small defects, and the author 
is to be congratulated on having given such a large amount of infor- 
mation on British birds in such an exceedingly small compass. 
Ke. 
THE BUILDING OF THE BriTISH IsLEs: A Study in Geographical Evolution. By 
A. J. Jukes-Browne, B.A., F.G.S. Second edition. Pp. xiv., 465. 8vo. 
London: George Bell & Sons, 1892. Price 7s. 6d. 
One object of geological enquiry is to picture the physical conditions 
that attended the deposition of the many geological formations. In 
its most interesting aspect, the subject is inseparably connected with 
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