64 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 
The History of Harting, in the County of Sussex. By the Rev. 
H. D. Gorpon, M.A., Rector and Vicar of the Parish; with 
a Chapter on the Geology of the District, by the late 
Sir Roperick Morcuison, Bart.; and some Notice of its 
Fauna and Flora, by JouNn WrAVER. 8vo, pp. 492. London: 
printed for the Authors, by W. Davy and Son, 8, Gilbert 
Street. 1877. 
WHEN we consider the amount of rubbish which is annually 
printed in the shape of three volume novels, and the amount of 
time which is spent, or rather wasted, in the production of such 
ephemeral literature, it is refreshing to meet with an author who 
deals with facts instead of fancies, who rescues from oblivion 
scraps of local history, and places on record something that is 
worth reading and worth remembering. 
What pleasanter occupation for a country clergyman, or indeed 
for any clergyman, in his leisure hours, than the collection of 
materials for a history of his own parish? To dip into ‘ Domesday,’ 
pore over parish registers, consult county histories, and generally 
to collect and sift all sorts of information from all sorts of sources, 
must surely be one of the most agreeable modes of “ driving dull 
_ care away,” to say nothing of the utility of the work when finally 
completed. 
Such an undertaking is not to be hastily dealt with or produced ; 
and indeed of this class of work it may be said that the longer the 
author is engaged upon it the better it is likely to be. Ten years 
have elapsed since the late Sir Roderick Murchison, dealing with 
the “Geological Structure of the parish of Harting,” penned the 
first thirteen pages of the present volume, and Mr. Gordon tells us 
(p. 230) that the preparation of his own share of the work has been 
“a pleasant holiday task for the last thirteen years.” He calls it 
“a humble attempt to describe a corner parish in West Sussex of 
7832 acres (nearly thirteen square miles), interesting in its flora 
and fauna, which, from their sheltered position and the variety of 
soil and climate, are unusually fertile, and also to unfold its remoter 
history, and incidentally that of its immediate neighbourhood.” 
