220 



NA TURE 



[JANUARY 8, I903 



connected account had been published for nearly a 

 century. Guided by geographical considerations, he 

 fixed his headquarters on the banks of the great Muonio 

 River, nearly half-way between the head of the Gulf of 

 Bothnia and the Arctic Ocean, at a little Swedish farm 

 opposite to the Finnish village of Muonioniska, and at 

 once began to explore the country in every direction. 

 These explorations he carried on personally for five 

 summers and three winters, extending them to the 

 Norwegian provinces of Nordland and Finmark, as well as 

 to the western portion of Russian Lapland, not omitting 

 the great lake Enara, which he found to be singularly 

 destitute of bird-life. In all this work, he was greatly 

 aided by a young lad, Ludwig Knoblock, with whom he 

 fortunately fell in immediately on his arrival in the 

 country, and finding him to possess a strong taste for 

 observing natural objects, generally intelligent and, 

 above all, truthful, he took him into his service and by 

 training made him the valuable assistant he proved to 

 be. To his perseverance, naturalists owe the solution, in 

 1856, of the mystery which had hitherto surrounded the 

 nidification of the Waxwing {Ampelis garrulus), sought 

 for as it had been by many travellers and in many 

 countries. Wolley himself was never so fortunate as to 

 see this bird, but the success which rewarded his exer- 

 tions to obtain the eggs of many until then unknown or 

 little known species can best be realised by those who are 

 well acquainted with the last edition of Hewitson's work 

 on the " Eggs of British Birds,'' in which so many of the 

 rarities were figured. Wolley took copious notes re- 

 specting the various eggs obtained by him or his 

 collectors, which have been most carefully reproduced in 

 the present work, and will be of the greatest interest 

 and use to both cabinet and field naturalists. 



In 1858, Wolley, who for years had been carefully 

 studying what was known of the history of the Great Auk 

 (A/ca impennis), undertook a voyage to Iceland, in 

 company with Prof. Newton, for the purpose of making 

 further investigations. It was assumed that this species 

 was extinct, though no one knew that such was the case 

 or how it had become so. Much information respecting 

 its latter years were obtained, and it was ascertained 

 that the last two living examples were procured at Eldey, 

 on the south-west coast of Iceland, in 1844. 



The year following this expedition, Wolley's health 

 began to decline, and his death occurred in 1859 at the 

 early age of thirty-six. 



His valuable egg collection passed into the possession 

 of Prof. Newton, who retaining in his service some of 

 Wolley's collectors, has added considerably to it, hence 

 many species are included in the present catalogue which 

 were unknown to Wolley. 



Amongst the additional notes from the pen of the 

 editor may be especially noticed those on the nidifica- 

 tion of the Nutcracker. Four coloured plates of ninety- 

 seven specimens of eggs are given, which, though ex- 

 cellent reproductions of the various eggs and well illus- 

 trating the variation in shape, colour and markings, were, 

 as stated in the introduction, executed some time ago. 

 Four lithographic plates of landscapes also accompany the 

 work, two of which are scenes in Lapland, the third being 

 a view of Eldey, the last home of the Greit Auk or 

 NO. 173.', VOL. bj) 



Garefowl, and the fourth a view of the Alkenhorn in 

 Spitsbergen. 



Last, but not least, is an excellent memoir of Wolley, 

 with a very good portrait of him and one of his head 

 assistant, Ludwig Matthias Knoblock, the perusal of 

 which will give infinite pleasure to many an oologist. 



THE WANDERINGS OF A NATURALIST JN 

 SOUTH AMERICA. 



The Great Mountains and Forests of South America. 

 By Paul Fountain. Pp. 29S. (London : Longmans, 

 Green and Co., 1902.) Price io.r. fid. net. 



IT was only a few months ago that we reviewed a 

 book by the same author on "The Great Deserts 

 and Forests of North America." We learn from the 

 introduction to the present volume that it was originally 

 intended to form a second part of that work, but, on the 

 advice of the publishers, it was "amplified" to make a 

 separate book. Unfortunately, the process of expansion 

 does not appear to have been very happily carried out. 

 In several cases, statements are repeated almost in the 

 same words, and the volume is eked out by a quantity of 

 miscellaneous matter that has little relation to the rest 

 of the book. But the love of nature and the keen observ- 

 ation of animal life that procured so warm a welcome for 

 Mr. Fountain's description of the deserts of the United 

 States are not wanting when the scene is changed to 

 the great forests of the south. 



It was in 1SS4 that the author left behind him the 

 region with which he has made us familiar and set out 

 on his travels in the southern continent. It is a mis- 

 fortune that he has allowed so long a time to elapse 

 before giving his experiences to the world. It was in- 

 evitable that after the passage of nearly twenty years 

 regrettable inaccuracies should find their way into 

 his pages, and these seriously diminish the value of the 

 book. 



Taking Obydos on the Amazon as his base, he 

 ascended the Rio Trombetas and subsequently the Rio 

 Purus and several of its tributaries in a boat he had 

 purchased in Para, transferring himself to a bark canoe 

 of his own manufacture when the water was too shallow 

 for the larger vessel. After his return to Obydos, we lose 

 sight of him for a time and then find him making his 

 way through the forest of the upper Xingu valley to 

 Oiamantino in Matto Grosso, where he again passes out 

 of view to reappear sporadically in Guiana, Ecuador, 

 Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Chili, and finally take leave 

 of us at Rio de Janeiro. 



The author is at his best in the description of his 

 excursions up the smaller tributaries of the Purus in the 

 twilight of the overarching trees. It was there, especially, 

 that he was able to make a close acquaintance with the 

 "jungle folk" of the Amazonian plain, of whom those 

 who travel by only the more frequented ways know 

 but little. His long experience as hunter and collector 

 stood him in good stead, and the variety of the forms of 

 life that he met with will seem marvellous to many who 

 have passed over much of the same ground. He 

 does not pretend, however, to scientific accuracy in 

 th™ determination of specie; o r an'uni's; it i; in the 



