330 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



we all know, " so far as abnormal migrants are concerned, 

 Devonshire can compare favourably with any other county." 



This book is not a monograph of the birds of Devonshire, it 

 does not describe the contents of cabinet drawers, but details the 

 observations of a field ornithologist ; it is an avian handbook for 

 the county, and, as such, should be procured and read. We are 

 glad to find that the Peregrine Falcon is still indigenous to 

 Devonshire. "Notwithstanding almost ceaseless persecution, the 

 bird somehow manages to hold its ground, and eyries are situated 

 here and there along the coast." Mr. Dixon is very optimistic 

 as to the little destructive effect on some main features of our 

 avian fauna made by the construction of railway lines. He 

 instances the many birds to be seen close to the line as the train 

 rushes through Devonshire, an observation we have made our- 

 selves both in that county and abroad. He concludes : " there 

 can be little doubt that railways would never have exterminated 

 the Great Bustard from the open wolds and plains, and its 

 absence must be ascribed to far more direct causes." Alas ! for 

 two of our old Devonshire friends, the Chough and the Jackdaw. 

 The first is not now known by the author to have any breeding 

 station on the south coast, and " whether the species will ever 

 again recover itself in the county seems doubtful." The decrease 

 of the Jackdaw may possibly be attributed to the numbers shot 

 by the owners of Pigeons, which are attacked by the Daws. 



The volume is full of interesting ornithological facts and 

 observations; but how can either author or publisher imagine that 

 such a publication unprovided with an index can ever serve a 

 referential purpose ? 



Sport in East Central Africa, being an Account of Hunting Trips 

 in Portuguese and other Districts of East Central Africa. 

 By F. YauctHan Kirby. Rowland Ward, Limited. 



Mr. Vaughan Kirby is well known as an experienced and 

 successful hunter of South African animals, and, although the 

 sportsman appears in the pages of the above work in rather an 

 inverse ratio to that of the naturalist, we still obtain much of 

 that zoological information which can only be procured by those 

 who have the health, inclination, and opportunity to wander, rifle 



