378 BihliograpMcal Notices. 



more numerous than those of any other branch of zoology. We do 

 not here allude to what may be termed the science of ornithology 

 or to the labours of the closet-naturalist, to the manufacture of 

 genera or the nomenclature of species, but to the knowledge ac- 

 quired and to the delight experienced by the true lover of nature, 

 who studies the habits of his feathered favourites in the woods, in 

 the fields, on the sea-shore, or in the swamps and fens of the county 

 to which, either from choice or chance, his attention has been espe- 

 cially directed. 



Such a one is Mr. Cordeaux, the author of the volume before us, 

 which is evidently the result of assiduous observation at all seasons 

 and in all weathers, during a period of ten years, in the maritime 

 tract which he characterizes as " The Humber District," including 

 within its limits not only the wide estuary itself, with its muddy flats 

 from the Spurn Head to its junction with the Trent and Ouse, but 

 " the lands adjoining, namely part of North and Mid Lincolnshire 

 and Holderness, a district enclosed to the north, west, and south by 

 the curved sweep of the wold hills. To the east its sea-board ex- 

 tends from Flamborough Head in the north to Skegness on the 

 Lincolnshire coast in the south. This is a well-defined and clearly 

 marked province, both geologically and zoologically. It may be 

 compared to a half circle or bent bow, the Lincolnshire and York- 

 shire wolds forming the bow, the coast-line the string ; whilst the 

 great river itself is like an arrow placed in the string and across 

 the bow, dividing the district into two nearly equal divisions." 

 (Introduction, page v.) 



But in spite of the attractions it stiU possesses for the practical 

 observer, our author teUs us that even in the beginning of the pre- 

 sent century, " when Colonel Montagu made his celebrated ornitho- 

 logical tour through Lincolnshire," it had been shorn of much of its 

 ancient wildness, " immense changes having taken place in the 

 physical features of the country by the drainage and partial culti- 

 vation of the fen lands. Some species of birds had disappeared, and 

 others were rapidly verging on extinction." Truly it must have 

 been a perfect paradise for wild fowl before it became what it now 

 is, " probably the best-farmed county in the kingdom," 



Mr. Cordeaux says that the migratory birds visiting this district 

 in the autumn and winter, almost without an exception, come from, 

 the direction of the sea, arriving on the coast in lines of flight vary- 

 ing from full north to east. 



" The only exception to this rule is that of the Grey or Winter 

 Wagtail (Motacilla hoarula), which reaches us from the west or north- 

 west. In the spring also, I am strongly inclined to think, the 

 greater portion of our little summer visitors, including the delicate 

 Warblers and Willow-wrens, arrive from the sea, coming from the 

 south-east to east, appearing first in the warmer and low-lying 

 country between the coast and the foot of the wold range, and gra- 

 dually extending inland across the high wolds, a cold backward 

 district, to the interior of the county." (Introduction, page vi.) 



The latter portion of the above paragraph is exceedingly interest- 



