338 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Mr. Hudson has wandered over these downs with his acquired 

 natural history knowledge, an open mind, and his field-glass. He 

 has described much of what he saw, and a good deal of what he 

 thought ,and he has regarded Nature through his own spectacles, 

 and introduced remarkably little of other people's theories. Con- 

 sequently he has produced a most readable book, the style of 

 which is in unison with the quiet and lorn country which he 

 writes about. 



We read that the Long-eared Owl frequented, " and probably 

 bred, in the thorn, holly, and furze-patches among the South 

 Downs until recently"; and he refers to what in humanity has 

 been called " pre-natal suggestion," as exhibited in a lamb with 

 an Owl-like face, which lived for a few days only. He also gives 

 some quite startling facts as to the quantity of Wheatears 

 formerly destroyed by the shepherds at the instigation and 

 remuneration of the poulterers, and truly observes : — " It is not 

 fair that it should be killed merely to enable London stock- 

 brokers, sporting men, and other gorgeous persons who visit the 

 coast, accompanied by ladies with yellow hair, to feed every day 

 on * Ortolans' at the big Brighton hotels." Ultra advocates of 

 the theory of mimicry will find some remarks worthy of con- 

 sideration respecting the Common Snail (Helix nemoralis). The 

 shell of this species is on the downs mostly of one type, the 

 ground colour being yellow, or yellowish white, with broad black 

 longitudinal bands, and " often startles a person by its curiously 

 close resemblance to a small portion of a highly-coloured Adder's 

 coil. This chance resemblance to a dangerous creature does 

 not, however, serve the Snail as a protection from his principal 

 enemies — the Thrushes. Wherever there is a patch of furze, 

 there you will find the * Thrushes' anvil,' usually a flint half, or 

 nearly quite, buried in the soil a few feet away from the bushes, 

 and all round the anvil the turf is strewn with shattered shells." 



Recollections of my Life. By Surgeon-General Sir Joseph 



Fasrer, Bart. William Blackwood & Sons. 



This book is the narrative of a useful and successful life, 



passed for the greater, and certainly for the probationary period, 



in that administrative forcing-house where so many reputations 



