1 1 o Book Notice 



^■et in the face of his definite statement as to the distinction 

 between H. dorsalis Muls. [= H. mulsanti Rye.] and H. dor- 

 salts Marsh, Dr. ElHs, without the sHghtest justification, 

 transferred Archer's record of the former species to the 

 latter. Now, there may be good reasons for disregarding 

 Archer's definite statement and the records of Crotch and 

 Dr. Ellis, with which must go the authority of E. C. Rye, 

 who presumably satisfied himself that Archer and Crotch 

 had rightly diagnosed the species. If such there be, we 

 submit that Mr. Sharp should have given them, so that we 

 might have considered them for ourselves, and accepted 

 ■or rejected the conclusion to which he appears to have come. 

 It may be added that Mr. Sharp omits H. dorsalis Marsh for 

 which the only record is the improper one of Dr. Ellis, re- 

 ferred to above. 



Despite what we have said, this list marks a great advance 

 on the restricted list of Dr. Ellis, which only enumerated some 

 850 species, and Mr. Sharp deserves our thanks for its com- 

 pilation. If our suggestion as to organised excursions, etc., be 

 adopted, and an accession of species be the result, we shall look 

 to him to furnish us with a fuller and more complete list which 

 will be exhaustive in its inclusion of previously recorded species 

 and at the same time scientifically critical as to their right 



to a place in the list. 



♦♦ 



Waterloo Museum, Liverpool. Complete History of the Echalaz 

 ■Collection. By Lieut. Col. Echalaz. Croydon. 325 pp. 



This excellent and well-printed volume is a detailed description of the 

 collection of British Birds, etc., recently presented to the Waterloo Museum 

 by Lieut-Col. Echalaz. Printed in large type, and on thick paper, the first 

 impression one gets is that it puts the publications of our national museum 

 at South Kensington in the shade ! There are seventy cases in the collec- 

 tion, and these are described to some length. In each instance, particulars 

 of the capture of the bird are given, with other general information, ad- 

 mittedly extracted from Saunders' ' Manual of British Birds.' Most of 

 the .specimens are the victims of the gallant colonel's gun, but with regard 

 to the Great Northern Diver, there is an exception to this rule. With this 

 wary bird the Colonel had not his characteristic luck — one shot fell about 

 an incii too short of the bird, and he believes he wounded another. The 

 colonel appears to have always been a sportsman. At the age of twelve 

 he was allowed a single-barelled gun, and at fourteen, he shot his first hare, 

 and first pheasant. There is a portrait of the Colonel as frontispiece, and 

 his life-history is given in the first chapter. In this he deplores the fact 

 that he was never in active service, but he trusts that, as he had faced a 

 wounded tiger, he would have acquitted himself both as a soldier and an 

 Englishman, had he been called upon to face the bullets of any enemy. 

 Personally, we feel rather glad, for his sake, that he was not called upon 

 to ' face bullets ' ; we should not imagine it at all a pleasant proceeding. 

 There are several plates from photographs of the cases, many of which are 

 good ; but some, we hope, hardly do justice to the specimens. 



Naturalist, 



