Miscellaneous. 475 



Within the last few years there has arisen, in consequence, quite a 

 bewildering number of volumes, large and small, dealing with 

 animal life, and especially birds, all illustrated by ])hotograph8. 

 Many of these volumes have but little to recommend them : others 

 constitute standing monuments of infinite patience and laborious 

 research ; among these Mr. Lodge's work will take front rank. 



Mr. Lodge is not merely a photographer who finds birds con- 

 veniently useful subjects for the purpose of book-making ; on the 

 contrary, he is an ornithologist first and a photographer afterwards 

 — albeit a skilled photographer, as the pages of this volume testify. 



Considerations of space forbid anything more than the merest 

 outline of the scope of this book or reference to anything more than 

 a few isolated facts to show the accuracy and value of the observa- 

 tions which render the text such delightful reading. The Author 

 commences with a chapter on bird-life in a suburban parish, 

 and then goes on to describe such easily accessible observation- 

 stations as the Lincolnshire mud-flats, the Norfolk broads, and the 

 Fame Islands. Next follows an account of his more ambitious 

 explorations in the Dutch marshes, the Spanish marismas, and the 

 fjords and forests of Denmark. Observations of real scientific value 

 occur plentifully throughout these pages. Less welcome, and 

 equally numerous, are painful references to the work of extermina- 

 tion which is proceeding apace throughout these islands. This is 

 due partly to the insensate greed of the collector, and partly to the 

 gross ignorance of the gamekeeper, who, in addition, and in spite of 

 laws for the prevention of cruelty to animals, is guilty of acts of 

 barbarity which can only be described as devilish. It is high time 

 that some more effective legislation was introduced for the suppres- 

 sion of these evils. 



There are three chapters in this book which will prove very 

 acceptable to many, since they deal with the question of the 

 photographer's outfit and automatic photography by electricity — 

 an extremely valuable aid in obtaining pictures of suspicious birds, 

 otherwise unappi'oachable. 



There are over two hundred illustrations in this book, some of 

 which are of great beauty. The eight coloured plates are all 

 unusually good. The book is well bound, well printed, and a work 

 of which both author and publisher may feel proud. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Teleostome Pliyhgcny : a Correction. 

 *t[ AM indebted to Mr. Boulenger for kindly calling my attention to 

 a mistake in my paper on Teleostome phylogeny in the last number 

 of the 'Annals.' On page 331, in the definition of the order 

 Dipneusti the word "not'' should be omitted, thus reading " Clavicle 

 distinct from the cleithrum." — C. Tate Kega:^. 



