390 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



forth in legions almost everywhere, but more especially in the south- 

 western counties, and it was also taken so far north as the Orkney Islands. 

 Since then, I do not think it was noticed in any part of Scotland until the 

 autumn of 1889, when I heard of one having been taken at Dargavel, and 

 others in Wigtownshire. Between that time and the present a few have 

 been met with at irregular intervals, e.g. ten in 1892 ; but so far as I am 

 aware there has been no remarkable invasion of them until the present 

 y ear . — Robert Service (Maxwelltown, Dumfries). 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS, 



Icebound on Kolguev : a Chapter in the Exploration of Arctic 

 Europe ; to which is added a Record of the Natural History 

 of the Island. By Aubyn Trevor Battye. Large demy 8vo. 

 With illustrations. London : Constable & Co. 1895. 



The main facts concerning Mr. Trevor Battye's adventurous 

 expedition to Kolguev Island are probably by this time well 

 known to most of our readers. The interesting narrative which 

 he has now published supplies us with the details, and gives us 

 an account of what befell him during an enforced residence on 

 the island, from June 16th to Sept. 13th, 1894. The ostensible 

 object of his visit was to learn something of the birds which 

 breed there or visit the place in their wanderings, and of the 

 characteristic plants which grow there. Although not the first 

 naturalist to explore this out-of-the-way island, he is the first 

 Englishman who has braved the hardships of living there for a 

 few months, and the results of his experience, as detailed in his 

 book, have a novelty and an originality which render them 

 particularly attractive. 



The accident which detained him on the island three months 

 instead of one, gave him an excellent opportunity of learning 

 something of the Samoyedes, its only inhabitants. For some 

 weeks he lived the life of these people, visited them in their 

 chooms or huts, drove in their Keindeer sledges, and accompanied 

 them on their wildfowling excursions. It was a pleasant ex- 

 perience, if somewhat a rough one ; but he made a good use of his 

 time, carefully noting the names of such birds as he identified, 

 collecting specimens of a few, and gathering such plants as 



