NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 281 



Jas. Newton Baskett. Some coloration seems to be regarded by 

 the author as of a survival nature. " The modern birds have 

 come out of an unknown region, bringing with them their desire 

 to get back — and their eggs marked to suit the foreign surround- 

 ings The bird which in the Arctics long ago may have 



lined its nest with green moss or grey lichens, may now floor it 

 with flax in Dakota, or pad it with cotton in Texas ; and yet in 

 either deposit a solid green or mottled greyish egg in keeping 

 with the colours of ' the old house at home.' " 



Another instructive memoir is that by J. J. Quelch " On the 

 Birds of British Guiana." The birds of this habitat have very 

 pronounced features, such as the large number of species, the 

 marked abundance of the individuals of a species, and an 

 astonishing brilliance of plumage. Food relations are also 

 peculiar : many Hawks examined at different times of the year, 

 and in different places, have revealed only a diet of moths, 

 beetles, grasshoppers, locusts, leaves, and fruit. The vultures, 

 Cathartes, in the forest districts, contain almost invariably a 

 preponderance of fruit and leaves ; while Mycteria, the Giant 

 Stork, in the depth of the dry and wet seasons lives on beetles, 

 grasshoppers, and locusts. We must conclude a hasty survey by 

 noticing the more personal contribution of Paul Leverkuhn, 

 of Bulgaria, on " Ornithologists, Past and Present." The 

 author possesses a collection of ornithologists' portraits " which 

 is said to be the richest one in the world," and he is still desirous 

 of receiving additions to his albums. It is well to know where 

 such collections are amassed, and it is to be wished that copies 

 of some may from time to time be published. How we would all 

 value to-day the inspection of a portrait of Gilbert White of 

 Selborne. 



Wild Bird Protection and Nesting Boxes. By John K. B. 

 Masefield, M.A. Leeds: Taylor Bros. 1897. 



This delightfully illustrated little volume is written by a true 

 lover of birds, who, by protection and affording facilities for 

 nesting, has during the last few years had no fewer than thirty-six 

 " species of our wild birds nesting in and around my own garden. 



