124 Bibliographical Notice. 



Skull : upper length 59 ; greatest breadth 42 ; length of 

 three anterior molariform teeth 9*6. 



Uah. Cape York, N. Queensland. Type from Port 

 Albany. 



Type. Old female. B.M. no. 66. 4. 23. 1. Collected by 

 Mr. Coxen. Two specimens examined. 



BIBLIOGllAPHICAL NOTICE. 



Wild Life on a Norfolk Estuary. By Arthur H. Patterson. With 

 a Pr'efatori/ Note by Her Grace the Duchess of Bedford. 

 London : Methuen & Co., 1907. 10s. 6d. net. 



This latest of Mr. Patterson's books is most certainly his best. 

 He has, in fact, provided us with a most delightful series of word- 

 pictures of scenes a^d men of bygone times, the likes of which we 

 shall never see again. 



As a storehouse of facts concerning the bird-life of his district, 

 Mr. Patterson's book will long be treasured. His remarks are 

 almost entirely confined to observations on that ornithologists' 

 paradise, " Breydon Water " — an area, of no inconsiderable size, of 

 mud-flats and water, bounded on all sides by " ronds," whereon grow 

 coarse grass, sanfoin, " southern-wood," and Michaelmas daisies. 

 It is traversed by the river Yare, so that at high tide it becomes 

 transformed into a great but shallow lake, and at low water into a 

 seiics of more or less extensive mud-islands, whereon, even to-day, 

 a rich variety of wading-birds and water-birds generally are 

 constantly to be met with. And of these the author may claim to 

 possess an almost unique knowledge, for he has haunted this happy 

 bunting-ground for years. Happily gifted with very considerable 

 powers of observation, infinite patience, and an innate, unfailing 

 instinct for selecting the right facts for his chronicles, we may turn 

 to his pages confident that much that is new will be found therein, 

 though the facts may not be startling in their novelty. 



It has not fallen to the lot of many men during the last thirty 

 years or so to watch flocks of Avocets and Spoonbills, yet this 

 Mr. Patterson has done, and in leisurely fashion too, on more than 

 one occasion, on his beloved Breydon Water. But it is not his 

 account of the habits of these rarities — though they were once 

 common enough here — that will be treasured so much as bis 

 faithful and vivid descriptions of more common frequenters of this 

 favoured spot. 



The author, more than once, deplores the thirst for killing which 

 possesses the meaner spirits who hunt this water-way. And in 

 this we join him, especially in regard to the use of that barbarous 



