Notices of New Books. 3087 



executed, the size is royal octavo, and it contains twenty-four large 

 and closely printed pages, and, finally, the price is only half that of 

 the ' Zoologist.' From this statement it will, I think, be manifest, that 

 the ' Naturalist' fulfils almost every condition at which I have for 

 eighteen years been constantly aiming, — the rendering of natural his- 

 tory accessible to all : Dr. Morris has, moreover, in his directions to 

 correspondents done me the honour to follow my own, and the contri- 

 butions are arranged typographically almost exactly as in the ' Zoo- 

 logist.' There can be no doubt that such a work is likely to interfere 

 greatly with the sale of the ' Zoologist ;' and thus that I shall be di- 

 rectly a sufferer by its publication : but how is it possible for me to 

 urge this as an objection ? How inconsistent with the professions and 

 practice of my whole life, to say one unkind word, or entertain a 

 hostile feeling on this account ! Still, on the other hand, it would 

 neither be fair nor truthful in me to conceal the fact, that one of the 

 indispensable conditions of a good popular journal of natural history 

 seems to me not to be fulfilled ; and taking this first number as a fair 

 sample of what the w r ork is designed to be, I fear that the want of 

 this indispensable condition will be fatal : however, there is no way 

 so fair as letting a work speak for itself; and I therefore extract for 

 my ornithological subscribers a few passages taken at random. I 

 will not even state my objection, but leave my readers to draw their 

 own conclusions. The especial attention of Mr. Doubleday, Mr. 

 Yarrell, Mr. Gurney, Mr. Gould, Mr. Fisher, Mr. Hewitson, Mr. Bury, 

 the Messrs. Matthews, Mr. Milner, Mr. Tomes, Mr. Heysham, &c, is 

 requested to the subjoined extracts. 



1. Female Cuckoo crying " cuckoo." 



" In the summer of 1850, in the month of July, a hedge accentor 

 constructed its nest in a holly-hedge, about two feet from the ground, 

 and about fourteen from an adjoining garden-wall. Immediately on 

 its being finished, and before the owner of it had time to deposit her 

 second egg, a cuckoo, which had for some days past been watching 

 with anxious eye the operations of the accentor, took the opportunity, 

 during the temporary absence of the said hedge accentor, and quietly 

 deposited in the nest her egg, which occupied but a few minutes, and 

 immediately took her departure, uttering at the same time her well- 

 known cry of cuckoo, cuckoo, in rapid succession to a neighbouring 

 elm-tree." — Page 11. 



2. Female Cuckoo feeding her young with Abraxas grossulariata. 



" Taking my stand not at a great distance from the nest under the 



