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 NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



British Birds. By W. H. Hudson. With a chapter on Structure 

 and Classification by F. E. Beddard. Crown 8vo, pp. 

 1 — xxii ; 1 — 363. With 8 coloured plates by A. Thorburn ; 

 8 plates and 100 figures by G. E. Lodge; and 3 illustra- 

 tions from photographs by R. B. Lodge. London : Long- 

 mans, Green & Co. 1895. 

 Mr. Hudson's name is already so well known as that of an 

 observant outdoor naturalist and agreeable writer of travels, that 

 a new book from his pen is sure to be well received. His newest 

 volume is a most attractive one. The coloured plates by A. 

 Thorburn, and the black and white sketches of birds by G. E. 

 Lodge are charming, and recommend the book at once, quite 

 irrespective of the letterpress. It is by the latter, however, that 

 the merit of the work will be gauged, and Mr. Hudson's qualifi- 

 cations as a writer on British ornithology will be estimated. 



Frankly speaking, we opine that Mr. Hudson is a safer guide 

 when discoursing of the birds of La Plata than when dealing 

 with those of Great Britain ; for the simple reason that he has 

 spent a longer time in studying the avifauna of a South American 

 province than he has been able to devote to similar studies in 

 England. The title of his book strikes us as being too compre- 

 hensive, since it by no means includes every bird which finds a 

 place in the British List. On the contrary, we could give a long 

 list of species omitted, and a still longer list of species of which 

 the treatment is so brief — often three or four lines only — as to be 

 quite inadequate for a work with so comprehensive a title. For 

 example, we read on page 82, that besides the Reed and Sedge 

 Warblers, " three more species have been numbered as British 

 birds, having been found as stragglers in this country. These 

 are the Marsh Warbler, the Great Reed Warbler, and the 

 Aquatic Warbler." Now, considering that the two first named 

 have both been found nesting in this country, where the first 

 mentioned is probably an annual, though local, summer migrant, 

 while the third is known to have been met with on at least four 

 occasions, we may well demur to so slender a notice of them. A 

 similar remark applies to what is said of the White Wagtail, 

 dismissed in two lines (p. 108) ; of the Water Pipit, of which the 



