melodious methods of showing their delight in being alive. ' Among the heavier mamma- 

 lians the feeling is manifested in loud noises, bellowings and screamings, and in lumbering, 

 uncouth motions throwing up of heels, pretended panics, and ponderous mock-battles ; 

 while the spur-winged lapwing executes a stately minuet, the ypecaha rail treads a fantastic 

 measure, and the white-handed mocking bird of Patagonia pours out a song which in 

 passion and melody puts that of the nightingale to shame, accompanying his music with 

 appropriate movements. 'While singing he passes from bush to bush, sometimes delaying 

 a few moments, and at others just touching the summits, and at times sinking out of 

 sight in the foliage ; then, in an excess of rapture, soaring vertically to a height of 100 

 feet with measured wing-beats like those of a heron ; or mounting suddenly in a wild, 

 hurried zig-zag, then slowly circling downwards to sit at last with tail outspread fanwise, 

 and vans, glistening in the sunshine, expanded and vibrating, or waved languidly up and 

 down with a motion like that of some broad-winged butterfly at rest on a flower.' There 

 is a bit of description that makes you long to verify; and what more can be said for it than 

 that ? " 



" Land and Water" says: 



" Rarely have we read a book on Natural History which has given us more pleasure than 

 this. It is the work of a close, patient, and exact observer, who is not content to notice and 

 record, but who examines and deduces with the loving care of the born naturalist. The 

 book lacks nothing to make it enjoyable. Mr. Hudson writes fluently, and his language is 

 well chosen ; the many illustrations do much to enhance the interest of the text ; the subjects 

 are happily selected, and the birds and animals represented are admirably drawn and repro- 

 duced. ... To give a just idea of the contents of the book we must have recourse to quota- 

 tion ; but when we glance at our voluminous notes we recognize our inability to do it full 

 justice, for there is scarcely a page which does not offer something of interest, something 

 curious, or something new. ... In conclusion, we would earnestly commend this delightful 

 volume to the notice of everyone who takes even the faintest interest in natural history. 

 For ourselves, we can only say that we laid the book aside with a deepened reverence for the 

 workings of Nature, and a genuine feeling of gratitude to an author who has so hugely 

 increased our interest in the fauna of South America. The book is beautifully printed and 

 got up ; and the illustrations, a few of which we are kindly permitted to reproduce, are 

 beyond praise." 



" The Athenaeum" says: 



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

 among books on South or even intertropical America. It is written by one who, born in 

 the country, and familiar with the Pampas from boyhood, has found time during his wan- 

 derings 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 inde- 

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

 the nature of essays. . . . all are interesting, and our notice might easily be expanded to 

 twice its present length if such a proceeding were fair to the author. The type of this 

 capital book is clear, and the illustrations, by J. Smit, are good, especially those of the 

 birds." 



"The Academy" says: 



" Mr. Hudson is not only a clever naturalist, but he possesses the rare gift of interesting 

 his readers in whatever attracts him, and of being dissatisfied with mere observation unless 

 it enables him to philosophize as well. With his lucid accounts of bird, beast, and insect, 

 no one will fail to be delighted. . . . The sketch of the Pampas, with its plants and animals, 

 is beautifully written. His stones of skunks and the Indian joke on the subject are equally 

 charming, and should be compared with Admiral Kennedy's belief. The observations on 

 bird migrations, on the puma so well disposed to man, so fatal to horses on bees, spiders, 

 dragon-flies, on tree creepers, on mosquitoes and other creatures, are original, and the spe- 

 culations which they call forth frequently fascinating. The biography of that curious 

 rodent, the vizcacha, is admirably executed, and the sketch of the animals themselves is 

 artistic and lively. Indeed, the illustrations throughout this volume are of a high character. 

 ... It is no mere compliment to assert that a lover of animals will not take up this book 

 without reading it to the end. Mr. Hudson's descriptive powers are as highly developed as 

 his habits of careful observation, and another volume of his American experiences will be 

 eagerly awaited. The present, however, is a rich treat to the British naturalist, opening put 

 vistas of speculation and enlarging his acquaintance with bird and insect life in the tropics. 

 Indeed, there is no greater pleasure to an observer in one country than to compare his know- 

 ledge with similiar facts in the New World fauna. The characteristics of the different crea- 

 tures on which Mr. Hudson touches are carefully discriminated, and the subtle views, which 

 he states in lucid and beautiful language, largely extend the reader's mental horizon. Over 

 and over again such an one will be reminded of ' The Voyage of the Beagle,' while the 

 descriptions of bird and beast life partake somewhat of the gorgeousness of a tropical land- 

 scape. Mr. Hudson's book cannot be neglected by any one who claims to be a lover of 

 nature." 



