Jan., 1896. SOME NEW BOOKS. 47 



W. T. Blanford, has himself an enviable knowledge of Indian birds, 

 and he has gallantly stepped into the breach. Indian students ought 

 to be very grateful to Dr. Blanford for the amount of hard work 

 which he has obviously bestowed upon the book before us. The 

 rectification of synonyms must, in itself, have occupied a great deal 

 of time, and to most of us the tracking out of the priorities of names 

 is a wearisome duty. Mr. Oates had only time, if we recollect aright, 

 to deal with the Indian Passeres. His successor has devoted the 

 third volume of this series to the Broadbills, Woodpeckers, Rollers, 

 Kingfishers, Hornbills, Swifts, Nightjars, Trogons, Cuckoos, Parrots, 

 Owls, and Accipitrine birds. In dealing with these, Dr. Blanford has 

 scored a very conspicuous success. Of course, there will always be 

 some difference of opinion as to the employment of certain generic or 

 specific names, and the day of a hard and fast uniformity among 

 specialists will not come in a hurry. But the definitions of the 

 structural characters of the Families and Genera adopted by the 

 author are explained with praiseworthy lucidity, and are in complete 

 harmony with the present state of our knowledge of avian morphology. 

 The descriptions of plumage are also judicious, and cannot fail to 

 enable any young sportsman to identify the birds that he may come 

 across on his shooting expeditions. When we remember that 

 Jerdon is scarce, and costs a five-pound note, while its letterpress 

 though good is antiquated, we cannot disguise our satisfaction that a 

 trustworthy handbook is now available at a reasonable price. The 

 cuts of the heads of birds scattered up and down the book add to its 

 interest in the eyes of the student. Though any undue haste would 

 militate against the quality of the fourth volume, we shall be pleased 

 to see so admirable a work safely brought to its anchorage. 



Turning to works of a more popular nature, it is satisfactory 

 to notice the progress which the Royal Natural History continues 

 to make under the very competent hands of R. Lydekker. The 

 ornithological sections are before us, and the standard of the 

 earlier portions of the work appears to be maintained. The 

 reading public are exacting nowadays, and expect a great deal 

 for their money. Messrs. Warne & Co. deserve some credit for their 

 enterprise, since the type is uniformly good, and the work of the 

 printer leaves little or nothing to be desired. The illustrations are 

 excellent, taken as a w T hole, but one or two are exceedingly bad. We 

 cannot understand how the editor could allow the insertion of the 

 effigy of a so-called bullfinch which appears at p. 400. Indeed, that 

 of the brambling is little, if at all, more creditable than its companion. 

 But these sorrowful exceptions only serve to enhance the general 

 merit of the larger number of the numerous figures, and those by 

 Wolf and G. E. Lodge are genuine works of art. Lodge is seen 

 at his best in the engraving of an adult goshawk inserted at p. 240. 

 The conception of a golden eagle's eyrie shown on p. 224 is a fine 

 specimen of a great master's style. The important order of the Passeres 

 was assigned to the Rev. H. A. Macpherson, that of the Picariae 

 was apportioned to Dr. Sharpe, while the editor himself contributes 

 the remaining part of the seventh section. It is rather amazing that 

 Mr. Lydekker should seriously cite an avowedly anonymous correspond- 

 ent of the Times upon the habits of the merlin. With this exception, 

 the quotations appear to be judiciously selected and carefully welded 

 together. A fair amount of original information regarding the habits 

 of birds is also forthcoming. On the whole, perhaps the most satisfac- 

 tory feature of the avian portion of this work is the care which has 

 obviously been bestowed upon explaining, in simple but accurate 



