NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 137 



some possible chance they might have bred there, I cannot say, but I should 

 suggest very humbly that it is just possible that the party might have been 

 two old and three young birds. In any case, however, the occurrence, so 

 far as it is satisfactory, is worth remarking on, as it may lead to others besides 

 myself keeping a sharp look out this year for a recurrence of this very 

 unusual sight. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



The Eggs of the Limicolae, by F. Poynting. (London : R. H. Porter, 7, 

 Princes Street, Cavendish Square.) Four parts, deiny 4to, 54 plates ; price 

 £5 net. 



The recent issue of Part IV. of Mr. Frank Pointing's " Eggs of the 

 Limicolae," completes what we trust is the first instalment of a work which 

 will deal with the eggs of all the British Birds. We should greatly value 

 illustrations of the beautiful eggs of the Falconidae from the same accom- 

 plished artist. 1SI o praise can be too high for the manner in which the eggs 

 of the Plovers and bandpipers have already been delineated. They are 

 confessedly difficult to illustrate, with all their numerous shades of stone, 

 buff, buffish red, green, chocolate, brown, &c, and with their various 

 blotches and markings ; but so faithfully have these been rendered by Mr. 

 Poynting, and by Mr. "W'ilhelm Greve, the well-known lithographer of 

 Beriin, that we teem to have the very eggs before us, and not their mere 

 figures. The eggs of the Limicolae are very dear to Oologists, both on 

 account of their extreme beauty, and also on account of the mystery which 

 still clings to the nidification of some of the species ; and all collectors of 

 these eggs will value Mr. Poynting's most successful work, which represents 

 thtir favourites with a faithfulness that cannot be surpassed. A great 

 merit in Mr. Poynting's work is that he gives illustrations of so many 

 varieties ; all eggs are given to variety, none more so than those of the 

 Limicolae, so that a single figure of the egg of any species would convey a 

 very inadequate idea ; but Mr. Poynting presents as many as a dozen figures 

 of some of the most variable eggs, dlustrating all the chief varieties ; his 

 plates of the extremely beautiful eggs of the Purple Sandpiper, the Wood 

 Sam/piper, the Green-shank, and some others, are " joys for ever." There is 

 only one of the plates in which he appears to us to have omitted a typical 

 variety, and this is his plate of the eggs of the Jack Snipe, in which we 

 should have been pleased to have seen the uniform chocolate egg sometimes 

 laid by this minute Scolopax. Among the earliest specimens of the Jack 



