NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 493 
set his mind at rest; or if he looks up carefully, he may perchance discover 
their whereabouts at once. But he must proceed very carefully when so 
doing, and he must regulate his actions by their noise and motions. Thus, 
if the feeding stops, he should stop; then some old cock will probably call, 
the hens will coo softly in answer, and soou the host will feed again, when 
the paddles or the setting-pole may be resumed; but, should the punter 
observe some birds walking away from him, the case is getting critical. 
The fact is, these birds have not made out yet what cause of alarm they 
may have; but they have heard something, and are distrustful, and, at the 
slightest further cause, the lot will take to their wings. It requires then 
perfect silence for a few minutes on the punter’s part; for, no sooner have 
the suspicious birds begun their evolutions than the whole company throw 
up their heads to look up and listen also, and, with so many sharp pairs of 
ears listening and eyes looking, it belhoves the shooter to be extra quiet. 
Indeed, sometimes, notwithstanding all his carefulness, the company rise 
and sheer off; but, if the harbour is quiet, and no shot has been fired, they 
may perhaps settle again further on on the flats; and indeed, I once had a 
second shot myself within a few momeuts at the same company settling 
again near the cripples of my first shot ; but such are exceptional cases.” 
If we have one fault to find it is that, although the author has 
plenty of material, it is not so well put together as it might have 
been—not sufficiently concise. Many of the chapters might be 
considerably curtailed without any detriment to the work, and 
instead of reprinting the voluminous correspondence and criticisms 
which appeared in ‘The Field’ on “‘ Wildfowler’s” articles as 
originally published, it would have been much better if the 
author had briefly stated general results, or better still, re-written 
his articles, embodying in them all such additions by corre- 
spondents as might seem to him of real practical value. By so 
domg he would have saved much repetition, and would have 
presented his facts more clearly and forcibly to the reader. 
The chapter on the close-time for wildfowl and seafowl (p. 458) 
seems to have been written, unfortunately, just before the passing 
of the recent Act for the Protection of Wild Birds, the text of 
which was given in the last number of ‘The Zoologist.’ So that 
the information there afforded concerning Statutes since repealed 
is not now needed. In a future edition doubtless the author will 
substitute the text of the Act now in force, with such comments 
thereon as will suggest themselves to his practical mind. In any 
new edition, also, we would strongly urge the desirability of 
furnishing a good Index, the absence of which, from the volume 
