VII. 



The Naturalist in La Plata/ 



SELDOM, if ever, have we read with such extreme pleasure and 

 interest any work on the habits and ways of animals in their 

 native state as Mr. W. H. Hudson's "The Naturalist in La 

 Plata," a volume which is in every respect a worthy successor to 

 Mr. Bates's " Naturalist on the Amazons," or Mr. Wallace's " Malay 

 Archipelago." Mr. Hudson is, indeed, in some respects unrivalled 

 as an observer of animate nature, and is equally at home when 

 treating of the ways of large ferocious animals like the puma, or when 

 describing the curious dances of the birds of the Pampas. He has also 

 the rare charm of conveying to his readers the results of his observa- 

 tions in such bright and vivid language as cannot fail to make the 

 volume acceptable to all lovers of nature. Indeed, so striking is his 

 word-painting, that we seem to realise the scenes described, even 

 without the aid of the very excellent figures with which many of 

 them are illustrated. ^ 



The greater portion of the work, as we are informed in the 

 preface, has already seen the light in the form of articles in various 

 magazines and journals. This, indeed, would have been apparent of 

 itself, on account of certain repetitions which occur here and there, 

 notably the description of the scent given by the male Pampas deer, 

 in almost identical sentences on pages i6 and 159. The author being 

 essentially an outdoor naturalist, may, perhaps, be excused for not 

 being quite up to date in regard to nomenclature and synonomy. 

 For instance, Didelphys anrita (p. 18) is now regarded as identical 

 with D. marsupialis, of which D. azara: (p. 102) is only a variety. 

 Then again, the bat alluded to on page loi as a VesperUlio would 

 appear, according to Dr. Dobson, to be an Atalapha. There are, 

 moreover, a few misprints, such as anriUir for anrita (p. 18), Por- 

 phyriops for Porphyvio (p. 20), and over-bird for oven-bird, which 

 might have been avoided by a little more care in proof-reading. 

 These are but slight blemishes, and any inaccuracy in the proper 

 names of the opossums of the Pampas is largely discounted by the 



1 The Naturalist in La Plata. By W. H. Hudson. London ; Chapman 

 and Hall, 1892. 8vo. Pp. 388. Illustrated. Price i6s. 



2 We are indebted to the publishers for the opportunity of presenting samples 

 of the illustrations to our readers. 



