394 NATURAL SCIENCE. 



JULY, 



but the point is conceded that the rhyolites of Co. Antrim (still styled 

 " trachytes ") are at any rate older than " the later half of the basalts." 

 On this, as on other matters, more may still be said ; the two addresses 

 contain so much that is new, interspersed amid summaries of older 

 work, that criticism must be left to observers in special localities, 

 while all readers will profit by the comprehensive view now given 

 them. G. A. J. C. 



Within an Hour of London Town. By a Son of the Marshes. Edited by 

 J. A. Owen. 8vo. Pp. 314. London and Edinburgh : William Blackwood and 

 Sons, 1892. 



" Within an Hour of London Town," is not in any sense a scientific 

 work, nor does it possess much originality. Its special charm lies 

 in the wealth of language, rich and varied, but seldom forced or 

 unnatural, which carries us rapidly away from the noise and rattle 

 of City life, into the retired haunts of the " fern owl," the green wood- 

 pecker, and other interesting birds, whose habits will always repay 

 the investigations of a quiet eye. There is just a flavour of cen- 

 soriousness in the present volume, savouring a trifle too much of 

 self-consciousness, but this is too well concealed to detract seriously 

 from the value of its fascinating pages. Lovers of pets will revel in 

 the description given of the habits of a Little Owl, though, remem- 

 bering the numbers of this species imported into London every 

 year, we cannot think that the little pet of "the Son" had really 

 crossed the Channel by his own election. Chapters on " Autumn 

 Lights and Shades," and " Winter Shifts " are strongly imbued with 

 that healthy insight into the ways of wild creatures which is one of 

 the growing signs of the times. 



A large proportion of the book consists of the commonplace talk 

 of country folk. This is often good of its kind, but it soon palls, and 

 a little of it goes a very long way with most people. The author 

 gives a long disquisition on the Hawfinch eating peas, but he has 

 entirely forgotten to say that it consumes large quantities of injurious 

 insects during the spring and summer. Its wholesale destruction, as 

 described by the Son of the Marshes, is a direct defiance of the 

 Wild Birds Act, and entirely opposed to the dictums of common 

 sense. One female Hawfinch, shot near her nest in Kent, proved on 

 dissection to contain — not green peas, but forty injurious caterpillars. 

 Yet the author of this work seems almost to approve of its 

 destruction. 



We notice that the author occasionally becomes confused 

 between allied species. For example, at p. 153 he identifies the 

 Nearctic Buffel-headed Duck with the Goldeneye. At p. 163 he tells 

 us that punt-gunners do not shoot together. Unfortunately, many of them 

 shoot together, and share their luck together. The foot-note on 

 p. II seems to imply that the term "gabble retchet " is applied to 

 wild geese in Surrey. As a matter of fact, tlie expression only obtains 

 (so far as we know) in Yorkshire, and the whole note is borrowed 

 property. But we have no wish to find fault with the fare provided 

 for us in this volume. It was a good idea to reprint the articles here 

 gathered together from the Times and the monthly magazines. Such 

 essays deserve to be encouraged, because they supply a pabulum of 

 the daintiest and most airy kind for our play-hours. 



