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NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



The Fauna of Shropshire. By H. Edward Forrest. Shrews- 

 bury : L. Wilding. London : Terry & Company. 



This is a very welcome addition to our county faunistic hand- 

 books. " The whole area of Shropshire is only about 1340 square 

 miles, yet within this compass we have plateaus and plains, hills 

 and vales, boggy flats and heathery moors, cornlands and pastures, 

 wooded slopes and barren crags, meres and ponds, streams big 

 and little, and — most important of all — the river Severn." Sea- 

 and shore-birds are attracted by the meres, and the still reaches 

 of the Severn, which river again is followed in its course by many 

 birds — as Sandpipers — and fishes. Among the mammals enume- 

 rated, " the Wolf, the Koebuck, and the Wild Boar have been 

 long extinct, and the Pine Marten disappeared this century; 

 while the Polecat is on the verge of extinction " ; the Wild Ox is 

 also included, though this animal is now of antiquarian interest. 

 Of birds 250 species are enumerated, of which 87 are classed as 

 residents, 34 as summer migrants, 17 birds of passage, 40 winter 

 migrants, and 72 as waifs or accidental visitors. Six reptiles 

 (one of which, the Smooth Snake (Colonella Icevis) is included, at 

 present, on very slight authority) ; seven Amphibians, twenty- 

 nine Fishes, — of which the Sea Trout (Salmo trutta) is now 

 added by courtesy, — and three Lampreys (Lowest Vertebrates) 

 complete the subject-matter of the volume. 



One of the most interesting features of this book is to be 

 found in the lives and portraits of Shropshire naturalists, which 

 include such well-known names as Eyton, Kocke, and Houghton. 

 Charles Darwin was also a Salopian, but his work was confined 

 to no county and limited to no country. Another excellent idea 

 is the printing of the names of resident birds in capitals, and 

 of visitors and casual wanderers in ordinary type. To show the 

 contrast, however, different coloured printing would greatly facili- 



