092 Recently piihlished Ornifhological Works. 



Lis wanderings about England during last year in search 

 of rare songsters. One of his favourite haunts is Wells- 

 next-the-sea on the coast of Norfolk, where there is a com- 

 bination of sand-hills, pine-wood, green marsh, and saltings, 

 and where the Wild Grey Geese come in in great numbers 

 from the north, finding sanctuary in the wide meadow-lands 

 lying between Wells and Holkham. Here, also, are Hooded 

 Crows, Avhich roost in the pine-woods extending from Wells 

 towards Holkham, and many other interesting birds to be 

 watched. Other chapters deal with the Peak district, with 

 the flat green Somersetshire country near Glastonbury, and 

 Avith an unnamed Hampshire village, where Mr. Hudson 

 was so fortunate as to discover a number of Dartford 

 Warbleis, or, as lie terras them, Furze-Fairies, nesting. 



There is an elusive charm about all Mr. Hudson^s writing, 

 and this volume gives as much [)lcasure for its literary style 

 as for the observations recounted. His bete-noir is the game- 

 keeper and his master the '^ Millionaire Landed Proprietor" 

 Avlio have between thrm d( stroyed so much of the Accipitrine 

 and the larger bird-life of England in their effoits to raise a 

 good head of pheasants and other game. But, on the other 

 hand, it must be remembered that many of our larger birds, 

 such as the Golden Eagle and the Kite, have only been 

 preserved to us by the unremitting care of some our larger 

 land-owners, and that England, at any rate, considering its 

 population and restricted area, shews up very well as com- 

 pared with continental countries, or even America, as 

 regards the numbers of birds to be seen about the countryside, 

 and this is almost certainly due to the land being held by 

 large land-owners and not by small peasant-proprietors. 



Mathews on Australian Birds. 



[The Birds of Australia. By Gregory M. Mathews. Vol. ill. pt. 2. 

 Pp. 305-204, pis. 138-150. London (WitlierLy). 1913. 4to.] 



Mr. Mathews must find his task becoming somewhat 

 easier now that he has disposed of the intricate synonymy 

 of the Petrels and earlier groups. Still, as he tells us, the 

 Plover and Snipe families present many difficulties, and in 



