NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 317 



real enjoyment may be gained from a study of Ornithology, even 

 in a city, and under circumstances which at first sight would 

 hardly seem favourable. The " list of birds observed in Oxford 

 and within a radius of four miles " (pp. 165 — 170) includes 

 upwards of a hundred different species, and, although a few of 

 them (like the Hoopoe) may be considered as of doubtful 

 occurrence, while others, like the Hen Harrier and Goshawk, 

 must be exceedingly rare within the I'adius referred to, yet it is 

 evident that even in close i^roximity to a large city like Oxford 

 there is an abundance of bird-life to be met with, offering an 

 attraction at all seasons to those who would have an object in 

 their walks. 



It is surprising how many birds, in spite of the presence of 

 their deadliest enemies, boys and cats, will come into our gardens 

 to build their nests, if only fair opportunities are afforded them. 

 " An Oxford Tutor " tells us that in a garden close to his own, 

 wherein the owner had used\every means to attract them, there 

 were, in May, 1886, fifty-three nests, exclusive of those of 

 Swallows and Martins. The garden is not more than two or 

 three acres in extent, including a small orchard which adjoins it; 

 but by planting thick bushes and coniferous trees, and by placing 

 flower-pots and boxes in the branches at some height from the 

 ground, he insjjired them with confidence in his good intentions. 

 The fact that a pair of Missel Thrushes reared their young there 

 only a few feet from the ground, and close to a stable and much 

 frequented walk, shows that even birds of wild habits of life may 

 be brought to repose trust in man by attention to their wants. 



It is not often that one has an opportunity of seeing the 

 Grasshopper "Warbler, though its note is very familiar ; for it is 

 of such skulking habits and restless disposition that it seldom 

 affords more than a momentary glimpse of itself as it creeps 

 through the thick covert in which it delights. The author of the 

 present volume furnishes some interesting notes on this species 

 (pp. 101 — 103) from his own observation of it under favourable 

 circumstances. His attempt to sketch the local migration of 

 birds, as observed in the neighbourhood of a particular mid- 

 land village, is doubtless applicable to many other parts of the 

 country. 



Nor is it onl}' as an exponent of English bird-life that " an 

 Oxford T utor " comes before us. Vacation rambles in Switzerland 



