358 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



Rough Notes on the Birds observed during Tiventy Years Shooting 

 and Collecting in the British Islands. B_y E. T. Booth. 

 With Plates from Drawings by E. Neale, taken from 

 Specimens in the Author's possession. Part XV. and last; 

 folio. London : R. H. Porter. 1887. 



Commenced in 1881, and issued at intervals in parts, the 

 recent appearance of Part XV. has brought this fine work to a 

 conclusion. As the author tells us in his Introduction, more 

 years than he anticipated have been spent in describing the 

 habits of the birds observed by him, and it would now be more 

 correct to name twenty-five years instead of twenty as the period 

 over which his observations have extended. The public have 

 been the gainers, for the result is a collection of the most 

 interesting and valuable notes relating to many of the rarer 

 British birds which are not to be found elsewhere. 



The concluding part, which is now before us, deals with the 

 Snow Bunting, Bittern, Common Sheld Duck, Wigeon, Mallard, 

 Dunlin, Ruff, and Common Tern, containing in addition the 

 title-pages, contents, and list of plates for the three volumes in 

 which the work may now be bound. 



The illustrations by Mr. Neale from specimens in the author's 

 collection, although perhaps somewhat unequal in merit as 

 regards drawing, are accurately coloured, and have this great 

 recommendation, namely, that in many cases several plates are 

 given of the same species in different phases of j)lumage, many 

 of which have not been previouslj' represented in an^^ other 

 work. As examples, we may note the plates which represent the 

 immature plumage of the Osprey, Kite, Hen Harrier, Montagu's 

 Harrier, Bearded Tit, Yellow Wagtail, Ruff, Whooper, Shoveller, 

 Eider, Velvet Scoter, Gannet (six plates), and Sandwich Tern, 

 besides several Gulls, and eight plates of Skuas in various 

 plumages. Another noticeable feature in the plates is the care 

 that has been taken to reproduce accurately the colours of the 

 soft parts in the species figured. These colours, as everyone 

 knows, fade very quickly after death, and by the time a preserved 

 specimen is thoroughly dried, the colours of the bill, legs and 



