November 2, 1S93] 



JVA TURE 



Birds,"' we may fairly consider that about 12,500 species 

 of birds are known to exist at the present day. 



Dr. Gadow's " Classification of Birds ' is based on very 

 careful and exact study, and certainly carries this 

 perplexing subject several steps further as regards the 

 higher groups. There is now a good opportunity for any 

 naturalist, working on the same exhaustive lines, to give 

 us a classification of the Passeries, and it is to be hoped 

 that Dr. Gadow will some day be induced to take up this 

 s-tudy. In my address to the Ornithological Congress at 

 Budapest in 1S91, I advocated the employment of every 

 external and internal anatomical character, as well as the 

 nesting habits and the geographical distribution, for the 

 achievement of a natural classification. Dr. Gadow has 

 not only worked upon the same lines, but has further 

 personally examined the anatomical features on which 

 his classification is mainly based, and he has selected 

 some forty characters, which he considers to be of essen- 

 tial value in determining the various orders and families. 

 Dr. Shufeldt will doubtless not agree with the author's 

 conclusions regarding the Macrochircs, and it seems to 

 me somewhat strange to find the Hornbills allowed no 

 higher rank than as a sub-family of the Upiipidce, while 

 the position of the S/n'ges in the Coraciformes will doubt- 

 less excite a good deal of criticism. There can, however, 

 be no question that the amount of work which Dr. Gadow 

 has managed to compress into some five-and-twenty 

 pages will be found to contain some highly original ideas, 

 and such as must materially influence the mind of the 

 next worker on the classification of birds. 



The third work alluded to above is the " Special 

 Bulletin" of the U.S. National Museum, a goodly 4to 

 volume of 416 pages, with 12 coloured plates of eggs. 

 The figures are beautifully rendered by chromolitho- 

 graphy, and the publication is altogether a notable one. 

 The letterpress is the work cf Capt. Charles Bendire, who 

 is known to be one of the most practised oologists 

 of the present day. He has described and figured in the 

 present volume the eggs'of all the North American game- 

 birds, pigeons, and birds of prey, and he has used his 

 opportunity to the greatest advantage by giving an ex- 

 cellent account of the life-histories of the species, together 

 with the latest information respecting their geographical 

 distribution. Capt. Bendire's work forms one of the most 

 important of the recent contributions to ornithological 

 knowledge, and the succeeding volumes will be awaited 

 with eagerness by ornithologists. 



The issue of several good faunistic works on various 

 parts of the British Islands, brings within measureable 

 distance the time when it will be possible to take a 

 detailed review of the ranges and occurrences of the birds 

 which inhabit the above-mentioned area. Some of the 

 books alluded to are of the lighter kind, like Dr. Hamil- 

 ton's " Riverside Naturalist,"^ and Mr. John Watson's 

 "Poachers and Poaching,"- wherein the authors relate 

 their own personal experiences of animal and plant life. 

 In Dr. Hamilton's book the birds occupy nine chapters 

 (pp. 21-165), and he gives a series of chatty and well- 

 written notes, giving quite a full review of the birds 

 which come under the notice of the fisherman or stroller 

 on the river's bank. The book is a pleasant companion 

 for a holiday outing, and it is a pity that the illustrations 

 are not more up to the mark, for M. Robert's wood- 

 cuts are not worthy of insertion in any book which 

 pretends to scientific accuracy, as they are evidently 

 drawn from stuffed birds, and in some cases it is im- 

 possible to tell what they are meant for, the illustration 

 of the " redbreast" on p. 105 being equally suggestive 



} "The Riverside Naturalist. Notes on the various forms of life met 

 with either in, on, or by the water, or in its immediate viciniiy," by E. 

 Hamilton. 8vo. pp. i.-xviii. 1-401. (London, 1890.) 



^ "Poachers and Poaching," by John Watson. Svo. pp. i.-viii. 

 1-326. (London, iSgi.) 



NO. 1253, VOL. 49] 



of a black redstart, while the sparrow-hawk's head on 

 p. 153 is certainly that of a cuckoo I 



Mr. Watson's collection of essays, gathered from 

 several publications, is very good reading, and ranges 

 over a wide field of subjects, with some of which " poach- 

 ing "has nothing to do. As is inevitable in a series of 

 articles contributed to different publications, the author 

 travels over the same ground more than once in the 

 course of the book, but the latter is always readable, and 

 when Mr. Watson writes from his own first-hand experi- 

 ences, he tells his story as a field naturalist should. In 

 some of the remarks which he makes, however, we notice 

 that he does not always acknowledge the source of his 

 inspiration. 



Some of the faunal works issued during the last year 

 or two have been of special excellence, especially those 

 published by Mr. David Douglas, of Edinburgh,' which 

 deal with the Zoology of Northern Britain. One of the 

 most interesting of these is the " Birds of lona and 

 Mull,'' edited from the IMSS. of the late H. D. Graham 

 by Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown. The work was originally 

 edited by the late Robert Gray, the well-known author 

 of the " Birds of the West of Scotland," whose appre- 

 ciative preface is also given in the work ; but he did not 

 live to see its publication. The volume consists firstly of 

 letters sent by Graham to Robert Gray, not only from 

 lona, but from his later home at Littlehampton, in Sussex, 

 where his references to shooting at Pagham must kindle 

 remembrances in a {t\\ of us who can still call to mind 

 collecting in that fine old haunt of the naturalist. After 

 some "extracts from diaries," a list of the birds of lona 

 and Mull is given. The book is enlivened throughout by 

 sketches by the author, illustrating the wild country in 

 which he lived, and the shooting experiences so well re- 

 lated in its pages. These little sketches are spirited and 

 amusing enough, though sometimes the sportsman seems 

 to be firing " in among the crowd " of his companions in 

 the boat. From the usual position of the gun, the little 

 dog — who was Graham's constant companion in his col- 

 lecting-trips — must have had some narrow escapes, and 

 perhaps that is why the last picture in the book repre- 

 sents the dog's tombstone. 



Another of Mr. Douglas' excellent publications is the. 

 " Vertebrate Fauna of the Orkney Islands," by Mr. 

 T. E. Buckley and Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown. The birds 

 occupy the bulk of the volume (pp. 91-264, app. pp. 

 -97-302), and are treated in a very full manner, as 

 might have been expected from the well-known reputa- 

 tion of the authors. The natural history of the Orkneys 

 has been several times chronicled, the best-known works 

 being those of the Rev. George Low, who wrote about 

 1770. and of Messrs. Baikie and Heddle, in 1S48. The 

 list of writings relating to the natural history of the 

 islands, as given by Messrs. Buckley and Harvie-Brown, 

 is considerable, and some excellent photographs of 

 scenery are given, in addition to some spirited pictures 

 of bird-life by Mr. J. G. Millais. The above-named 

 authors have also published, in 1892, a " Vertebrate 

 Fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides," which forms 

 a companion volume to the "Fauna of the Orkneys" 

 and the other works on Scottish Natural History pub- 

 lished by Mr. Douglas. 



To Mr. R. H. Porter we are indebted for the publication 

 of some very useful contributions to British Ornithology. 

 In 1S91 was published Mr. Borrer's " Birds of Sussex," ^ 

 v/ith six beautiful coloured plates by Keulemans, illus- 

 trating the Gyrfalcon, the Honey Buzzard, the Rufous 

 and Aquatic Warblers, the Nutcracker, and the Squacco 

 Heron, all rare visitors to Sussex and the British Islands 

 generally. Mr. Borrer is one of the old school of orni- 

 thologists, and has been an esteemed correspondent of 



1 " The Birds of Sussex. " By William Borrer. Svo, pp. xviii, 3S5, pis. 

 i.-vi. with map. (Lcndon: R. H. Porter, 1S91.) 



