90' 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
brace, are extinct or nearly so, although re-stock- 
ing has been resorted to on various occasions. 
Grey-lag geese, which breed on many of the lochs, 
and which were formerly considered a nuisance by 
reason of their numbers, have also entirely dis- 
appeared; wild ducks are reduced from hundreds 
to a bare half-dozen, and rock-pigeons, snipe, 
golde n plover, green lover, greenshank, dunlin, 
and whimbrel are all on the verge of extinction. 
Nor does the strange diminution apply only 
to the fowl usually classed as sporting. The great 
northern diver, once common, is becoming quite 
scarce, and the red-throat has gone. Ofi the thou- 
sands of lesser black-backed gulls that bred on the 
islands of Loch Maree, hardly any remain, and 
they get fewer and fewer every year, although the 
islands are now carefully watched and preserved; 
and the storm-petrel, that used to breed in large 
numbers on a small isand in the parish, no longer 
does so. 
The writer adds : — "No nightjars have been 
seen for years here, though they used in former 
times to fly about the gardens, and nest close 
to the house. The wheatear, once the commonest 
of all small birds on our moors,, is now quite rare. 
The house-martin deserted us thirty or forty years 
ago, and they were then in swarms, not only nest- 
ing under the eaves of many of the bigger houses, 
but also in thousands in the precipitous Tolly rock 
on Loch Maree. The rook, which used almost to 
darken the sky with its multitudes, and the jack- 
daws are gone, and even the huge flocks of field- 
fares and redwings that visited us at the end of 
October, are now represented by a score or so all 
told, and the few blackbirds, song-thrushes, and 
missel-thrushes that remain grew fewer and 
fewer,." 
The writer asks if any explanation can be 
given of these strange disappearances. It is cer- 
tainly a most remarkable and difficult problem, es- 
pecially when we remember that the beautiful and 
remote shores of Loch Maree are not likely to 
suffer in any degree from the inroads of civilisa- 
tion. We wonder if a record at all approaching 
this exists for any other part of the British Islands. 
" AUDUBON THE NATURALIST." 
By Francis Hobart Herrick. Published by D. 
Appleton and Company, New. York. Two vol- 
umes, 494 pp. Abundantly illustrated, several 
illustrations in colours. Price $7.50 per set. 
At last an exhaustive and authoritative bio- 
graphy of America's pioneer ornithologist, John 
James Audubon, whose name has become a house- 
hold word, has been placed at the disposal of bird 
lovers. So much misinformation has been writ- 
ten about him, based even upon his own Journals, 
that Dr. Herrick's studies will be greatly wel- 
comed. Audubon was an eccentric genius; never 
a business man and annoyed by anything that re- 
quired exactness of thought except as it concerned 
hhis own speciality. He frequently made mis- 
statements in his Journal about such closely as- 
sociated facts as the place of his own marriage. 
Because of his carelessness about dates and state- 
ments regarding his own personal affairs, he was 
the source of much unfavourable criticism before 
a single one of the drawings, which were later to 
make him famous, had been engraved. Several 
ventures in business brought nothing but finan- 
cial disaster and a growing desire to give his 
entire time to studying his beloved birds and 
familiarizing himself with the fauna of America. 
Possibly he would never have carried out this 
cherished plan if his devoted wife had not fur- 
nished the inspiration and, by acting as a gover- 
ness in private families, not only maintained her- 
self but also supported her two sons. 
Audubon was a tireless worker,. His deft- 
ness with pencil and brush enabled him to survive 
manv a serious crisis and ultimatelv to bring out 
the most elaborately illustrated scientific work 
that had ever been attempted up to that time. 
Audubon's journeys through the American forests 
were accomplished under great difficulties at times 
but they were always sources of great enjoyment 
to him. Days were spent wandering in the woods 
with only his fowling piece to keep him company, 
by means of which he secured the specimens for 
his drawings and the data for the Birds of America 
and his other scientific publications. Criticism 
has been made that he was not a- bird lover but a 
ruthless destroyer of them. This is not a fair 
estimate. At that period no one had thought of 
bird conservation because of the apparently in- 
exhaustible number from which to draw. 
When at last the plan to bring out his Birds 
of America took shape, his troubles were far 
from ended. The cost of engravings, the securing 
of subscribers for so expensive a venture, the 
time necessary to complete so monumental a work 
were enough to discourage even one who had no 
need to worry about its financial aspects. The fact 
that he ultimatelv succeeded in his ambition is an 
eloquent tribute to his spirit and enthusiasm for 
his work. Audubon met many of the most famous 
men in America and Europe. His ability as a 
scientist is attested to by his election to practi- 
cally all of the important scientific societies both 
here and in England. 
The author has collected great numbers of 
hitherto unpublished documents from which he 
has unravelled the mystery that surrounded Audu- 
bon's birth and corrected many erroneous impres- 
sions regarding his later life. These are appended. 
He has given the world much valuable informa- 
tion regarding contemporaneous writers on orni- 
thology as well as a view of early life along the 
Ohio and Mississippi rivers. His style is at once 
fascinating and clear. 
