NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 191 
has adopted is to give first the English name of the bird, 
followed by its correct scientific appellation; then a list of the 
various synonyms which have been bestowed by different writers. 
The precise habitat of the bird is next defined, and a short 
diagnosis of the species given in Latin. This is followed by a 
more detailed description in English of the plumage of both 
sexes, and of the young, and is succeeded by a very well-written 
account of the birds’ haunts, habits, and general life-history, 
which naturally forms the most readable and interesting portion 
of each chapter. 
Some idea of the magnitude of the work may be formed from 
the fact that only seventeen families of passerine birds are dealt 
with in the volume before us, and to these 565 pages are devoted ; 
the remainder of the volume being occupied with a very useful 
“ Bibliographical Appendix.” 
If the remaining families are to be worked out on the same 
scale, it is likely that four more volumes will be required to 
complete the entire work. It promises to be a very valuable 
contribution to the Ornithology of North America, and forms an 
excellent sequel to ‘The Birds of the North-West,’ published in 
1874, by the same author, a work which, as our readers will be 
aware, deals with the Ornithology of the region drained by the 
Missouri river and its tributaries. 
Wild Life in a Southern Country. By the author of ‘The 
; Gamekeeper at Home.’ 8vo, pp. 887. London: Smith, 
Elder & Co. 1879. 
In the course of last year we took occasion to notice a 
very pleasantly written book entitled ‘The Gamekeeper at 
Home,’* which we are not surprised to see has found such favour 
with the public as to have reached a third edition. 
We have now before us another volume by the same author, 
who for reasons best known to himself prefers to be nameless. 
His chapters are arranged so as to correspond in some degree 
with the contour of the country described by him. Commencing 
at the highest spot, an ancient entrenchment on the Downs has 
been chosen as the starting place from whence to explore the 
uplands. Beneath the hill a spring breaks forth, and tracing its 
* «The Zoologist,’ 1878, p. 358, 
