46 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



fowl while lying unseen by them, and in noticing at close 

 quarters the characteristic actions of the different species. 



The art of Fowling has many branches. You may build a 

 punt, single- or double-handed as required, mount a punt-gun 

 with all the modern improvements and appliances, and spend 

 your days and nights upon the water. Or you may eschew 

 punts and keep ashore, confining your attention to Snipe, Duck 

 and Teal, with an occasional shot at Plover or Curlew. You 

 may construct a decoy, and take hundreds of fowl in a season 

 without firing a shot ; you may take Wild Geese in pitfalls, or 

 Plovers in nets, or you may, if so inclined, relieve the monotony 

 of a walk across the marshes by setting snares for Snipe and 

 Woodcock. 



On all and each of these subjects Sir R. Payne Gallwey has 

 much to impart, and since his remarks are based on personal 

 experiences, it is perhaps needless to say they are thoroughly 

 practical. 



From the naturalist's point of view, with which we are here 

 chiefly concerned, his book is a very attractive one, for it contains 

 many interesting and hitherto unpublished observations on the 

 breeding of wildfowl in Ireland ; on the habits of seafowl as 

 observed at the Skelligs and other remote haunts ; on the 

 migration of birds as seen by the lighthouse-keepers ; and on 

 the present distribution of some of the rarer mammals of Ireland. 

 The chapters which treat of these subjects arc embellished with 

 numerous woodcuts by Mr. Charles Whymper, most of which 

 have been admirably drawn from nature, while seventeen full- 

 page illustrations, by the same artist, depict very skilfully some 

 of the various incidents of a fowler's life. 



Of the practical part of the book — namely, that which treats 

 in detail of yawls and cutters, punts and punt-guns, with all 

 their modern and improved appliances — we need say no more 

 than that the subject appears to be exhaustively dealt with. 

 For our own part we have been more entertained with the mode 

 described of constructing and working a decoy (Chapter IV.), 

 and with the directions given for making and using a plover-net 

 (Chapter X.), contrivances which show of what ingenuity the 

 human mind is capable when striving to outwit the keen 

 natural instinct displayed by wildfowl in their efforts at self- 

 preservation. 



