438 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The other full-page plates are etchings of Gowbarrow Park, 

 the ancestral home of the Red-deer ; Levens Deer Park ; Eyrie of 

 the Sea Eagle at Buck Craig ; Monkhill Lough, a haunt of Wild 

 Swans; and other equally interesting scenes. Besides these 

 sundry smaller woodcuts are scattered throughout the text. It 

 would be difficult to find a more fascinating book for naturalists, 

 or one which, in our opinion, has been more conscientiously and 

 ably written. 



The Birds of Devon. By W. S. M. DUrban, F.L.S., F.E.S., 

 and the Rev. Murray A. Mathew, M.A., F.L.S, 8vo, 

 pp.i — lxxxvii, J — 460. Illustrated by coloured plates, photo- 

 graphs, and maps. London: R. H. Porter. 1892. 

 Devonshire has been the home of many excellent ornitholo- 

 gists each of whom has contributed in turn to its bird-lore. 

 The literature, however, is very scattered and of very unequal 

 merit. Only last year we noticed a book on the birds of this 

 county, by Mr. Pidsley (Zool. 1891, p. 232), of which we were 

 reluctantly compelled to express an unfavorable opinion, the work 

 being considerably below the standard of excellence which is set 

 up at the present day. This was at once apparent to the authors 

 of the volume now before us, who, having been engaged for the 

 last quarter of a century in collecting materials for such a work, 

 were naturally in a position to form an opinion on the subject. 

 It seemed to them that Mr. Pidsley's attempt was neither exten- 

 sive enough as regards the field of observation, nor exhaustive 

 enough even so far as it went. For Devonshire forms but the 

 central portion of the south-west peninsula, and the migrations 

 of birds especially can hardly be understood unless the adjoining 

 counties to the east and west be considered with it. 



Even the opposite portions of the county itself present 

 differences in their summer migrants, in the classes of the rare 

 accidental visitors which either may expect to receive, and in the 

 shore birds which winter in the south while they desert the 

 northern estuaries. In a large county like Devonshire, with so 

 varied a surface, some species are common on one side though 

 rare on the other, and in one portion appear in winter and in 

 another in summer. Such differences can only be made apparent 

 by carefully recording the dates of occurrence as well as the 

 localities. 



