94 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



muddy bottom in great numbers." This monograph not only 

 describes the American remains, but also those of the Jurassic 

 lithographic limestones of Solenhofen, the Permian fossils of 

 Saxony, and those belonging to the Cambrian age in Northern 

 Europe and Bohemia. With the usual ample, we might almost 

 say lavish, manner with which these American governmental pub- 

 lications are issued, this volume is embellished with no fewer than 

 forty-seven plates. 



Birds of the British Isles. Drawn and described by John 

 Duncan. Walter Scott, Limited. 



This volume consists of a reprint of pen-and-ink sketches of 

 British birds, with short descriptive notes, contributed by the 

 author weekly during the last ten years to the ' Newcastle 

 Weekly Chronicle.' From an introduction, written by Mr. 

 Charles Dixon, we learn that the author from his childhood has 

 been a lover of bird-life : " And this seems only natural, for he 

 is the son of Robert Duncan, the Newcastle taxidermist, and was 

 consequently brought up in an ornithological atmosphere, and in 

 a house where the family talk was almost invariably about birds." 



Consequently this is neither what may be called exactly a work 

 of science, nor a book of reference. It is, however, a publication 

 which in its lengthy serial form must have drawn many of the 

 ardent Newcastle politicians who read the ' Newcastle Weekly 

 Chronicle ' away from the views of both Joseph Cowen and John 

 Morley to a more peaceful study of bird-life. 



It is a book that many will buy who have never heard of 

 Howard Saunders or his ' Manual,' and therefore will reach a 

 reading public to whom more scientific ornithology is a stranger. 



The work has been revised by Mr. Dixon, and is a real 

 standard of skill and industry combined with a true love of 

 nature. 



