146 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
after him, is to exhibit a carelessness which, in so practised a 
writer as Mr. Wood, is inexcusable. 
We regret to have thus to express our disappointment in the 
result of his labours in the present instance, but, while we are 
grateful to the publishers for having placed in our hands so 
elegant a text of a truly delightful book, candour compels us to 
express the opinion that the natural history portion of Waterton’s 
‘Wanderings’ has yet to receive a more adequate and useful 
treatment than that which it has met with at the hands of 
Mr. Wood. 
Sketches of the Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands. 
By Cartes Sr. Jonn. A new Edition. London: John 
Murray. 1878. Crowu 8vo. 
Few of our readers, we imagine, are unacquainted with the 
writings of the late Charles St. John, who, combining the tastes 
of a sportsman with the acquirements of an observant naturalist, 
has bequeathed to posterity some of the most instructive and 
agreeably written essays on Sport and Natural History ever pub- 
lished in the English language. 
Apart from the pleasant unaffected style in qiioh his 
experiences are detailed, one great charm about his books is that 
they contain no statement for the truth of which he was not 
personally able to vouch. ‘I have been particularly careful,” 
he says, ‘‘ to describe and note down nothing, the authenticity of 
which I am not certain of. Ihave carefully avoided the great 
error of taking things on hearsay. In the very few instances 
in which I have been obliged to depend on the eyes of others, 
Ihave been careful to guard against being knowingly or un- 
knowingly deceived. A book of this sort should be a book of 
reference, and as such to be thoroughly depended on; and I 
can assure my readers that they may fully depend on the truth 
and correctness of everything here mentioned.” 
These remarks occur in the preface to the author’s ‘‘ Natural 
History and Sport in Moray,” and show very clearly his views of 
the duty of a naturalist. They apply with equal justice to the 
book before us. 
Those who are familiar with the earlier edition of this work, 
which appeared some twenty years ago in a smaller and less 
