Letters, Ewtracts, Notices, &;c. 571 



Darwin's theory of sexual selection^ so far as it includes the 

 action of female choice or preference on the development of 

 decorations in the male. We fully acknowledge the force 

 of his arguments, but are hardly disposed to coincide with the 

 alternative explanation of " greater vigour and excitability " 

 as sufficient to account for the many extraordinary develop- 

 ments of the male plumage in birds and other animals. We 

 also rather take exception to the expression " accessory 

 plumes/' often used in this connection. These so-called 

 ''accessory plumes" will always be found on close examina- 

 tion to be nothing more than ordinary plumes extraordinarily 

 developed, not new creations, as one would be led to suppose 

 by that ill-chosen expression. 



122. Watson's ' Sylvan Folk." 



[Sylvan Folk : Sketches of Bird and Animal Life in Britain. By John 

 Watson. 12mo. London: 1889.] 



This is a collection of newspaper and magazine articles, 

 one of which has appeared in the ' Grentleman's Magazine ' as 

 recently as August last, though the work was published last 

 spring. The author places the Swifts among the Swallows, 

 which he calls " Hirundines*'; speaks of the Little Bustard 

 as now extinct in Great Britain ; indulges in the hope that 

 the Great Auk still exists within the Arctic circle ; and is 

 ostentatious in his contempt for '' the dry bones of science.'' 

 The style of the book is after that which is identified with 

 the name of the late Richard Jefferies, and the author's dis- 

 regard for syntax is as obvious as his " scant sympathy for 

 that species of natural history which is acquired in closets." 



XLIX. — Letters, Extracts, Notices, 6^c. 



We have received the following letters addressed to the 

 Editor of 'The Ibis:'— 



69 Cornwall Road, 



South Kensington, S.W. 



Sir, — It may be interesting to subscribers in this country, 



2p 2 



