Birds. — Notices of New Books. 3815 



his life been prolonged, he would have added much to our knowledge of the natural 

 history of the North of Scotland. The author of this short memoir enjoyed the 

 advantage of being a pupil of the deceased for many years, and is deeply sensible of 

 the benefits he received from him, and truly grateful for the kind interest he always 

 took in his welfare, and in that of every one who had been under his charge. " The 

 memory of the just is precious ; The just shall be had in everlasting remembrance." — 

 John Rose, A.M., M.D., fyc. ; Royal Hospital at Haslar, Gosport, February, 1853. 



Occurrence of the Stone Plover near Penzance. — I have mentioned on a former 

 occasion that the occurrences of the Norfolk or stone plover in this district have al- 

 most always been confined to the winter season. In reference to this, I have now to 

 report that I saw a specimen yesterday which was killed in the parish of St. Levan, 

 near the Land's End. — Edward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, February 18, 1853. 



Occurrence of the Apteryx at large in Wales. — A few days ago a friend from the 

 Isle of Anglesey was visiting me, and mentioned in the course of conversation that 

 some three or four years ago he shot in a marsh near our respective residences in 

 Anglesey, a singular bird of the species of which he was ignorant. On my expressing 

 a wish to see it, he kindly promised to send it to me ; and on its arrival, I was quite 

 startled with its resemblance to the New Zealand Apteryx, which I had seen in the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Society. The body of the bird measured 18 inches, the 

 beak about 5. I saw an absence alike of wings and tail : the feathers of hard rough 

 texture, the colour being an uniform dark brown: the head round the base of the beak 

 and the eyes thinly covered with long bristly hairs. Nothing I had ever seen bore a 

 resemblance to the creature before me, except the Apteryx ; and I hastened to consult 

 an eminent ornithologist, to whom I sent a description of the bird, along with a fea- 

 ther. He assures me that it belongs to the genus Apteryx, but to which of the three 

 known species he cannot determine, without an examination of the bird. How this 

 -creature could arrive at Anglesey seems a mystery, unless it had escaped from some 

 wrecked vessel. Perhaps some of your correspondents can suggest some solution of 

 this difficulty : all I can do is to assure them of the fact of this bird having been found 

 alive and shot in Anglesey, as I have related. — Josiah Spode ; Armitage, Rugeley, 

 Staffordshire, January 28, 1853. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



' The Annals and Magazine of Natural History? Nos. 61 and 62, 

 dated January and February, 1853. 



No arrangement could be more apt, more agreeable to all concern- 

 ed, whether proprietors or subscribers, than the simultaneous publi- 

 cation on the 1st of every month of such journals as the 'Annals of 

 Natural History,' the ' Zoologist ' and the ' Phytologist : ' the ' An- 

 nals,' for the reception of those technical and abstruse disquisitions 



