Reviews and Book Notices. EFS 
It will be necessary to start the watchers about the middle 
of April, therefore the committee trust to have a speedy and 
generous answer to their appeal. Naturalists’ Clubs in the 
County are specially asked to assist. 
In view of the difficulties the police have to contend with in 
administering the Wild Birds’ Protection Acts, from the fact 
that very few of them are able to recognise either the birds 
themselves or their eggs, the committee propose to appoint 
referees in various districts in the county, whose duties will be 
to assist the authorities by identifying any birds or eggs which 
may be submitted to them. 
alas ees 
Every Boy’s Book of British Natural History. By W. Percival 
Westell. London: The Religious Tract Society, 1906. 279 pages, numer- 
ous plates. Price 3/6. 
Mr. Westell knows how to produce a book. A short time ago we noticed 
his ‘Country Rambles,’ which had an introduction by Mr F. G. Aflalo. 
Then followed ‘ British Bird Life,’ with an introduction by the Rt. Hon. Sir 
Herbert Maxwell, Bart., M.P. The present volume has an introduction by 
Lord Avebury. We are wondering who will write the introduction to 
Mr. Westell’s next! On the cover of ‘Every Boy’s Book of British Natural 
History’ we find the name of Lord Avebury in larger type than that of the 
author, and we hasten to peruse his Lordship’s contribution. We find xearly 
two pages from his Lordship’s pen! and nearly two pages of very general 
information too. We look for an opinion of the book—one paragraph after 
another—and at last, in the last line but one, we find it :—-‘ The photographs 
are charming’ / and on the very next page Mr. Westell informs us that 
‘Mr. Sedgwick is responsible for the whole of the photographs, and also 
for chapters 2 and 3 dealing with the camera and the uses to which it can 
be put.” The book is largely devoted to the birds ; and, whilst we have 
not checked every entry, the items in the present work are apparently 
entirely copied—perhaps just a little ‘boiled down’—from ‘British Bird 
Life.’ The chapter on Mammals and Fish are admittedly largely drawn 
from Aflalo’s ‘ Natural History of the British Isles’; Messrs. Arnold have 
given great assistance by their Life Histories of Fish, Insects, and other 
forms of British Wild Life ; Mr. Lucas’ books on Butterflies and Moths have 
provided information on these subjects, and Mr. A. E. Burgess has given 
valuable assistance in connection with the botanical section. In this way, 
and with the help of the photographs and chapters by the Rev. S. N. 
Sedgwick, and the Introduction by Lord Avebury, has been produced 
Westells ‘Every Boy’s Book of British Natural History.’ It is, never- 
theless, very attractive in appearance, most of the illustrations are really 
very fine (two of which we are kindly permitted toreproduce, see Plate XVII.), 
and there is no doubt it will appeal largely to the young naturalists for 
whom it has been prepared. There is an index occupying nearly three 
pages, and the price is very reasonable. 
Messrs. Watts & Co. are to be congratulated on being able to produce 
Haeckel’s ‘ Evolution of Man,’ in two volumes at the phenomenally low price 
of 6d. each. The volumes form Nos. 26 and 27 of the Rationalist Press 
Association’s cheap reprints. The first, dealing with Human Embryology, 
or Ontogeny, contains pages’ 1-178, and 209 illustrations; the second is 
devoted to Human stem-history, or phylogeny, and contains pages 179-364, 
and 199 illustrations. We are not surprised to find on the cover the words 
‘Second impression, completing 50,000 copies.’ At the price, no one ought 
to be without ‘ Haeckel’s greatest work.’ 
1907 March 1. 
