2 
melodious methods of showing their delight in being alive. ‘Among the heavier mamma- 
lians the feeling is manifested in loud noises, bellowings and screamings, and in lumbering, 
uncouth motions—throwing up of heels, pretended panics, and ponderous mock-battles ; 
while the spur-winged lapwing executes a stately minuet, the ypecaha rail treads a fantastic 
measure, and the white-handed mocking bird of Patagonia pours out a song which in 
passion and melody puts that of the nightingale to shame, accompanying his music with 
appropriate movements. ‘While singing he passes from bush to bush, sometimes delaying 
a few moments, and at others just touching the summits, and at times sinking out of 
sight in the foliage; then, in an excess of rapture, soaring vertically to a height of 100 
feet with measured wing-beats like those of a heron; or mounting suddenly in a wild, 
hurried zig-zag, then slowly circling downwards to sit at last with tail outspread fanwise, 
and vans, glistening in the sunshine, expanded and vibrating, or waved languidly up and 
down with a motion like that of some broad-winged butterfly at rest on a flower.’ There 
i a bit of description that makes you long to verify; and what more can be said for it than 
that? 
‘‘Land and Water” says :— 
‘* Rarely have we read a book on Natural History which has given us more pleasure than 
this. It is the work of a close, patient, and exact observer, who is not content to notice and 
record, but who examines and deduces with the loving care of the born naturalist. The 
book lacks nothing to make it enjoyable. Mr. Hudson writes fluently, and his language is 
well chosen; the many illustrations do much to enhance the interest of the text ; the subjects 
are happily selected, and the birds and animals represented are admirably drawn and repro- 
duced. . . . To give a just idea of the contents of the book we must have recourse to quota- 
tion ; but when we glance at our voluminous notes we recognize our inability to do it full 
justice, for there is scarcely a page which does not offer something of interest, something 
curious, or something new. . . . In conclusion, we would earnestly commend this delightful 
volume to the notice of everyone who takes even the faintest interest in natural history. 
For ourselves, we can only say that we laid the book aside with a deepened reverence for the 
workings of Nature, and a genuine feeling of gratitude to an author who has so hugely 
increased our interest in the fauna of South America. The book is beautifully printed and 
got up; and the illustrations, a few of which we are kindly permitted to reproduce, are 
beyond praise.” 
‘The Atheneum” says:— 
** After careful perusal we feel inclined to assign to Mr, Hudson’s work a high rank 
among books on South—or even intertropical—America. It is written by one who, born in 
the country, and familiar with the Pampas from boyhood, has found time during his wan- 
derings to stop and marvel at the wonders that presented themselves—also to think out for 
himself the reasons for many phenomena which have to be taken on trust by the busier 
dwellers in towns. . . . The twenty-four chapters which make up this volume are quite inde- 
pendent, some of them being admirable specimens of word-painting, while others are of 
the nature of essays. . . . all are interesting, and our notice might easily be expanded to 
twice its present length if such a proceeding were fair to the author. The type of this 
fae book is clear, and the illustrations, by J. Smit, are good, especially those of the 
irds, 
“The Academy” says :— 
“Mr, Hudson is not only a clever naturalist, but he possesses the rare gift of interesting 
his readers in whatever attracts him, and of being dissatisfied with mere observation unless 
it enables him to philosophize as well. With his lucid accounts of bird, beast, and insect, 
no one will fail to be delighted. . . . The sketch of the Pampas, with its plants and animals, 
is beautifully written. His stories of skunks and the Indian joke on the subject are equally 
charming, and should be compared with Admiral Kennedy’s belief. The observations on 
bird migrations, on the puma—so well disposed to man, so fatal ta horses—on bees, spiders, 
dragon-flies, on tree creepers, on mosquitoes and other creatures, are original, and the spe- 
culations which they call forth frequently fascinating, The biography of that curious 
rodent, the vizcacha, is admirably executed, and the sketch of the animals themselves is 
artistic and lively. Indeed, the illustrations throughout this volume are of a high character. 
. .. Itisno mere compliment to assert that a lover of animals will not take up this book 
without reading it to the end. Mr. Hudson’s descriptive powers are as highly developed as 
his habits of careful observation, and another volume of his American experiences will be 
eagerly awaited. The present, however, is a rich treat to the British naturalist, opening out 
vistas of speculation and enlarging his acquaintance with bird and insect life in the tropics. 
Indeed, there is no greater pleasure to an observer in one country than to compare his know- 
ledge with similiar facts in the New World fauna. The characteristics of the different crea- 
tures on which Mr. Hudson touches are carefully discriminated, and the subtle views, which 
he states in lucid and beautiful language, largely extend the reader’s mental horizon. Over 
and over again such an one will be reminded of ‘The Voyage of the Beagle,’ while the 
descriptions of bird and beast life partake somewhat of the gorgeousness of a tropical land- 
scape. , Mr. Hudson’s book cannot be neglected by any one who claims to be a lover of 
nature, 
