UCSB LIBRARY 



SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON W. H. HUDSON'S WORKS. 

 THE NATURALIST IN LA PLATA. 



BY W. II. HUDSON, C.M.Z.S. 



Mr. Alfred R. Wallace in "Nature" says: 



" This volume is, so far as the present writer knows, altogether unique among books on 

 natural history. It is to be hoped that its success will be proportional to its merits, and that 

 it will form the first of a series of volumes, by means of which residents in the various extra- 

 European countries will make known to us the habits of the animals which surround them. 

 What renders this work of such extreme value and interest is, that it is not written by a 

 traveller or a mere temporary resident, but by one born in the country, to whom its various 

 tribes of beasts, birds and insects have been familiar from chi.dhood ; who is imbued with 

 love and admiration for every form of life ; and who for twenty years has observed carefully 

 and recorded accurately everything of interest in the life histories of the various species with 

 which he has become acquainted. When we add to this the fact that the writer of this 

 volume is well acquainted with the literature, both old and new, bearing upon his subject : 

 that he groups his facts and observations so as to throw light on obscure problems, and 

 often adduces evidence calculated to decide them ; and, in addition to all this, that the book 

 is written in an earnest spirit, and in a clear and delightful style, it becomes evident that not 

 all who attempt to follow in his steps can hope to equal their forerunner. . . . These 

 subjects are discussed with a fulness and originality the result of long personal observation, 

 and will command the careful attention of those who are interested in the mental phenomena 

 presented by animals. . . . Never has the present -writer derived so much pleasure and 

 instruction from a book on the habits and instincts of animals. He feels sure that it will 

 long continue to be a storehouse of facts and observations of the greatest value to the 

 philosophical naturalist, while to the general reader it will rank as the most interesting and 

 delightlul of modern books on natural history." 



Mr. B. Lyddeker in "Natural Science" says: 



" Seldom, if ever, have we read with such extreme pleasure and interest any work on the 

 habits and ways of animals in their native state as Mr. W. H. Hudson's ' The Naturalist in 

 La Plata,' a volume which is in every respect a worthy successor to Mr. Bates's ' Naturalist 

 on the Amazons,' or Mr. Wallace's ' Malay Archipelago.' Mr. Hudson is, indeed, in some 

 respects unrivalled as an observer of animate nature, and is equally at home when treating ot 

 the ways of large ferocious animals like the puma, or when describing the curious dances of 

 the birds of the Pampas. He has also the rare charm of conveying to his readers the results 

 of his observations in such bright and vivid language as cannot fail to make the volume 

 acceptable to all lovers of nature. Indeed, so striking is his word-painting, that we seem to 

 realize the scenes described, even without the aid of the very excellent figures with which 

 many of them are illustrated.'* 



The "National Observer" says: 



"Mr. Hudson's book ... is the pith and marrow of years of collecting and observing on 

 the great plains of the Plate, by a man who knows how to write as well as how to observe. . . . 

 Here he leaves himself free to explore the rich and strange field of animal life between the 

 Andes and the Atlantic ; to hunt down and examine the facts and theories of previous 

 authorities ; and to start original ideas. Birds have, perhaps, the first place in his love. He 

 notes their habits and instincts : from the gaunt rhea, the last relic of the age of the glyptodon, 

 down to those ' living sunbeams,' the humming-birds. He gives a fascinating account of trie 

 extraordinary aerial and terrestrial dances and wing displays indulged in by the birds of the 

 Pampas and the forests, partly in the prosecution ot courtship, but largely also, as he holds, 

 out of the pure joy of living ; and he describes, with something of the eye of the poet as well 

 as the naturalist, the quality of their notes and the wonderful beauty ol their plumage." 



" The Athenaeum " says : 



" After careful perusal we feel inclined to assign to Mr. Hudson's work a high rank among 

 books on South-^-pr even intertropical America. It is written by one who, born in the 

 country, and iamiliar with the Pampas from boyhood, has found time during his wanderings 

 to stop and marvel at the wonders that presented themselves also to think out for himself 

 the reasons for many phenomena which have to be taken on trust by the busier dwellers in 

 towns. . . . The twenty-four chapters which make up this volume are quite independent, 

 some of them being admirable specimens of word-painting, while others are of the nature of 

 essays ... all are interesting. . . ." 



