jg 6 I Recent Literature. 2 C I 



Harvie-Brown and Buckley's ' A Vertebrate Fauna of the Moray 

 Basin.' 1 — These two attractive volumes are a credit to any publisher 

 in the excellence of their illustrations and in their typographical exe- 

 cution, while the matter they contain is well worthy of the elegant 

 setting. The first half of Volume I is taken up with a very detailed 

 account of the boundaries, ' water-sheds', and other physical features 

 of the region, and their influence upon ' migration lines,' with numer- 

 ous full-page photogravure illustrations of beautiful stretches of natural 

 scenery. The next sixty pages are devoted to the Mammals of the 

 region. The Birds naturally come in for a large share of space, occupying 

 pp. 214-306 of Vol. I and pp. 1-22S of Vol. II, or rather more than 

 half of the entire work. There is a colored plate of the chick of Pallas's 

 Sand Grouse (Syrrkaptes paradoxus), from a specimen taken in the 

 region under consideration, and various text and full-page photogravure 

 plates, appropriately illustrate this part of the work. Then follows an 

 account of the Reptiles (4 species), and of the Amphibians (5 species). 

 There is also a chapter (Vol. II, pp. 235-286) on 'The Extinct Vertebrate 

 Animals of the Moray Firth Ai-ea,' by Dr. R. H. Traquair, illustrated by 

 a number of text figures and nine plates. The work concludes with an 

 ' Analysis of the Mammalian and Avian Fauna, to which are added 

 Notes received since the Lists were printed off' (pp. 2S8-299J. There 

 is also a large colored map of the Moray Basin, and several bird's-eye 

 sketches of the topography of the mountainous districts. 



From the 'Analysis' we learn that of the 81 species of mammals found 

 in Great Britain, 42 have been recorded from the Moray Basin area. 

 Of 360-370 species of birds found in Great Britain, 255 are included in 

 the present volumes, which in the 'Analysis' are divided into the various 

 categories of 'residents', regular summer visitants, regular winter visi- 

 tants, regular autumn and spring visitants, occasional visitants, etc. 

 Of the total of 255 species, 26 are admittedly " recorded on insufficient 

 evidence," but they are distinguished from the others by the entries 

 being bracketed. 



The work is evidently the result of much patient research, and the 

 careful sifting of records, many of them MS. notes from more or less 

 well-known local observers, not before published. The subjects have the 

 appearance of being treated exhaustively, and the nature of the presence 

 of many species, which are known to have varied much in abundance and 

 in extent of range within the area in question, is given historically in 

 detail. Thus some twenty-five pages are given to the Osprey, and six to 

 a dozen to various other species. 



1 A Vertebrate Fauna of the Moray Basin. By J. A. Harvie-Brown, F. R. 

 S. E., F. Z. S., etc., and T. E Buckley, B. A., F. Z. S., etc. David Douglas, 

 Edinburgh, 1895. Two Vols., sm. 4to. Vol. I, pp. i-xiv, 1-306; Vol. II, 

 pp. 1-309. Map and numerous photogravure and other plates, one colored. 



