232 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



we fear, the sort of book which they require, or at least, which is 

 likely to be most useful to them. 



The very first information which the travelling Ornithologist 

 will need if he does not already possess it, is the name by which a 

 bird is known in the country visited. Without this knowledge he 

 cannot begin to make enquiry concerning it with any chance of 

 being understood. Mr. Backhouse should certainly have given 

 us the French, German, Spanish, and Italian names for all the 

 commoner kinds of birds, and these might have been easily 

 ascertained on reference to Schlegel's ' Kevue Critique,' Col. 

 Irby's * Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar,' and Prof. 

 Giglioli's ' Avifauna Italica.' 



Having learnt the local name of a species, the next thing to 

 be ascertained is where to look for it with some chance of success. 

 This information also is not supplied by Mr. Backhouse ; that is 

 to say, his definition of a birds' " distribution " is so wide as to be 

 practically useless to the inexperienced reader for whom his book 

 is intended. 



Let us suppose, for example, that the collector is in France, or 

 Switzerland, for a summer vacation, and anxious to see some 

 particular species which is rarely met with in the British Islands, 

 though, perhaps, common enough in summer in many parts of the 

 Continent. Looking to this pocket-guide for some hint as to its 

 distribution, he finds the statement that it "breeds in Central 

 and Southern Europe, wintering in Africa," a generalization 

 with which he is probably already familiar. 



Again, to take the case of a traveller seeing for the first time 

 a bird with which he is unacquainted. On enquiry he learns the 

 local name, and if that were given in the ' Handbook,' he would 

 have no difficulty in finding a description of it ; but in the 

 absence of such a clue, how many descriptions must be read 

 through before the bird seen can be identified and named, 

 perhaps, even then with some feeling of doubt. 



Mr. Backhouse's descriptions of the species, however, are 

 good so far as they go ; the adult in summer, adult in winter, and 

 the young bird being described ; the difference, if any, between 

 the sexes being also noted, and approximate measurements given. 



The book is printed in good clear type, and should the 

 reader be unfamiliar with the classification, he may easily find on 

 reference to the Index any species of which he may be in search. 



