Recent Literature. 



249 



filled with chopped tow, and the skull should be afterwards " thinly 

 plastered over with soft clay." "The hollow bags of the wings " should 

 also be filled with cut tow and the leg-bones wrapped with the same 

 material. A false body of tow and wire should now be made, and when, 

 after a complicated process, this has been introduced into the skin, the 

 latter should be placed in a trough, or a paper band or strip may be used, 

 a plan which is considered superior to wrapping in cotton. Of mammal 

 skins, by the way, Mr. Browne has apparently never heard, for we do not 

 find them mentioned in his w r ork. 



In mounting birds from skins no mention is made of the most impor- 

 tant part of the whole process, that of scraping and separating the shafts of 

 the feathers from the inside whereby the plumage regains much of its 

 former fluffiness. For the rest the author mounts his birds much as do 

 other taxidermists. 



The chapters on casting and modelling reptiles, amphibians, and fishes 

 and on the reproduction of certain invertebrates, contain information 

 which has not previously appeared in works on taxidermy, though the 

 methods given are in use in similar or improved form by our leading 

 taxidermists and modellers. 



Chapter IX, on casting and modelling from natural foliage, flowers, 

 etc, is largely based on the methods of Mr. J. H. Mintorn and Mrs. E. S. 

 Mogridge, whose work is so well and so favorably known in this country. 

 As such it will be welcomed by all taxidermists who appreciate the value 

 of a proper setting for their work. 



The excellence of this chapter gives us reason to regret that Mr. Browne 

 did not avail himself of the discoveries of his fellow workers in other 

 branches of his art, for while his book may stand as a complete exposition 

 of his own methods and ideas, it can by no means be considered as an 

 adequate treatise on artistic and scientific taxidermy. — F. M. C. 



Witchell's 'Evolution of Bird-Song.' 1 — Says the author: "However 

 novel or otherwise may be the theories stated in this book, I can at least 

 claim that, so far as I am concerned, they are absolutely original, all of 

 them having been committed to writing, though in some instances, not 

 under their present titles, before I consulted any person, or any book, in 

 regard to them." The subject is treated in ten chapters, under the follow- 

 ing headings : The origin of the voice ; alarm-notes ; the influence of 

 combat; the call-note; the simplest songs; noticeable incidents con- 

 nected with bird-song; the influence of heredity in the perpetuation of 

 the cries of birds ; variation in bird-voices, its cause and effects ; the 

 influence of imitation in relation to bird-song. An appendix gives ' Tran- 



1 The I Evolution of Bird-Song | with | Observations on the Influence of 

 Mimicry and Imitation | By | Charles A. Witchell | Author of the Fauna of 

 Gloucestershire | London | Adam and Charles Black | 1896 [New York l 

 Macmillan & Co. Price, $1.75.] 8vo, pp. x, 253. 

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