462 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Mr. Drax. They used to be hunted by Mr. Pleydell, of What- 
combe, with dwarf fox-hounds, and harriers, but we never heard 
of greyhounds being employed for the purpose. Perhaps on this 
point Mr. Dale may be mistaken. It is to be regretted that he has 
not given us a little more information on the subject. 
The Kite we are told (p. 31) was formerly common in the parish, 
and used to breed in the Middlemarsh Woods, but none have been 
seen for thirty years. 
Amongst the Reptilia we do not find any notice of the Smooth 
Snake, Coronella levis, which has been met with occasionally on 
the extensive heaths of South-West Hampshire and East Dorset. 
‘Little else calls for remark. The raison d'etre of this book, if 
we may judge by its contents, seems to have been a filial and 
laudable desire on the part of the author, to place on record a list 
of the large series of British insects in his father’s cabinet, that 
gentleman, who died in 1872, having been an enthusiastic collector. 
As a monument to his assiduity in that capacity, it no doubt will 
stand; but it can scarcely be said to add much to our knowledge 
of the subjects upon which it professes to treat. 
A History of British Birds. By the late W1iLttam YARRELL, 
V.-P.L.S., F.Z.S. Fourth Edition. Revised by ALFRED 
Newton, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Zoology and Com- 
parative Anatomy in the University of Cambridge. Part XII. 
October, 1878. Van Voorst, Paternoster Row. 
We have heard it remarked on more than one occasion that 
British Ornithology is “worked out,” and that, whatever may 
be said of exotic species, as regards the avifauna of Great 
Britain at least, nothing remains to be discovered or written. 
A more mistaken idea, however, could not well be conceived, and 
if any of our readers be disposed to share it, we recommend them 
to consult the pages of the fourth edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British 
Birds,’ now in course of publication. 
A comparison of the material in the present issue with that 
contained in the third edition will, without any disparagement of 
the original work, serve, we think, to convince the most sceptical 
not only of the important additions which are being made to our 
knowledge on the subject, but also of the amount of work which 
still remains to be done for want of observers and well-ascertained 
