NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 319 



second example has been received in the shape of a white heifer 

 presented by Mr. Assheton Smith from the Vaynol herd; and 

 what is of some importance to note, the two animals have mated 

 and produced offspring. A footnote to this effect would have 

 exonerated the author from a possible charge of having over- 

 looked what is now a well-known fact. This leads us to say that 

 the title of the book is not well chosen, and is in point of fact 

 misleading, for on turning over the pages we discover, to our 

 disappointment, that all the so-called "London Beasts" and 

 many of the "London Birds," are simply dwellers in "the 

 Zoo " ! while chapters on Leaf Insects, Tarantulas, Chamseleons, 

 and Crocodiles — all interesting enough in their way — finding no 

 place in either of these two classes, have been "sandwiched" 

 between them. This is unfortunate; but after all, it may be 

 asked, " what is in a name," provided the subject-matter be 

 good ? At any rate these collected essays will furnish pleasant 

 reading for an idle hour, and should they serve no better purpose, 

 they form a fitting and acceptable souvenir of a very estimable 

 man, a most agreeable companion, and, as his writings show, a 

 keen lover of natural history. 



Forest Birds, their Haunts and Habits : Short Studies from 

 Nature. By Harry F. Witherby. Post 8vo, pp. 98. 

 London: Kegan Paul & Co. 1894. 



Buried for some months under the daily accumulating 

 burdens of an Editor's table, this little volume, chiefly on 

 account of its small size, has escaped attention until now. It 

 would be hardly fair to the author, on that account, to pass it by 

 unnoticed, though it cannot well be characterised as a new book. 

 Although evidently written by a beginner, it is not without merit, 

 and its chief recommendation is the writer's attention to accuracy 

 in details. His chief aim, as he tells us in his preface, has been 

 " to accurately record his ,own experience and observations in 

 the lifchistory of the eight species of birds described in these 

 pages;" and he adds that "the information presented has been, 

 with few exceptions, the result of many hours of patient watching 

 and waiting on the part of the author." This is as it should be, 

 and although the species dealt with are among the best known 

 of common birds, the way in which they are dealt with, especially 



