NOTICES OP NEW BOOKS. 399 



the Vale of Clwyd to Llangollen. Behind these is the loftier silurian 

 range, forming the eastern boundary of the Vale of Clwyd ; and on the 

 western side of this is a vast area of confused hills and valleys, also of 

 silurian age, mostly moorland, and sparsely inhabited. These two 

 ranges unite at the head of the Vale of Clwyd, and pass on southward 

 to the furthest limits of Denbighshire, including in this area the 

 beautiful Vales of Llangollen and the Ceiriog. 



Nor is the climate much less varied than the physiography of the 

 district. That of southern Cheshire is practically the climate of our 

 midland counties generally ; while that on the north coast of Flintshire 

 and Denbighshire more nearly approaches that of Devonshire in its 

 equable character ; that of Chester and the low parts of Flint and 

 Denbigh being intermediate. 



Why is it (says Mr. Walker) that with all this variety of soil, alti- 

 tude, and climate with sea-coast, estuarial mud flats, mountain, moor- 

 land, and cultivated land, the district of the Chester Society has not a 

 richer avifauna ? 



The answer, we presume, must be that, compared with other 

 counties, the number of observant ornithologists in Cheshire 

 is limited, while, as Mr. Dobie has remarked, "the district 

 happens not to lie in any of the great routes of migration." 

 In this respect it cannot compare with the eastern counties 

 which receive the great autumnal bird-wave from across the 

 North Sea, and it even lies off the line of the west coast movement 

 of land birds, which are said to make their journey between the 

 Mull of Galloway and Anglesey by way of the Isle of Man. 



The number of species recognised by Mr. Dobie on what he 

 regards as fairly good evidence of their occurrence in a wild state 

 is about two hundred and twenty, but of these a few seem to us 

 to challenge objection. 



In regard to the Nightingale, it is stated, on the authority of 

 Mr. C. Wolley Dod, a good observer, that in 1889, in Lowcross 

 Gorse in the parish of Tilston-by-Malpas, a Nightingale sang 

 every night through May; and Mr. W. E. Sharp vouches for its 

 having been recognised at Ledsham in 1893. Mr. Euddy knows 

 of no authentic instance of its occurrence in North Wales, and 

 thinks the Garden Warbler has been mistaken for it. 



The statement of a dealer (p. 291) that a pair of Bearded Tits 

 were shot in September, 1893, "in a little ditch full of reeds 

 between Hoylake and West Kirby," is so remarkable that we are 

 inclined to think there must be some mistake about it. 



