NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 117 



visited the Bustards on the plains near the Guadalquiver, tried 

 Russian Lapland, has just started on a Persian expedition, and 

 in this small volume gives the principal incidents of a journey 

 made " to add to our knowledge of the birds and beasts of the 

 Soudan." 



These pages have the merit of giving a very fair impression 

 of the neighbourhood of the ancient river, with its modern rail- 

 way, its sandy plains, its few trees, and apparently its limited 

 bird fauna. To have reached this hunting-ground would have 

 a few years ago been considered the work of a " traveller " ; it 

 will soon be only the starting-point for a journey to British 

 possessions farther south, where the solitude of the green veld 

 will be exchanged for the silence of the sandy desert. The 

 author's greatest success appears to have been the acquisition 

 of a rare and beautiful Goatsucker (Caprimulgus eximius), of 

 which we read that up to that time only four specimens were 

 known, but of which since that date the Rothschild and Wollaston 

 party have discovered a spot where it is fairly common, and pro- 

 cured no fewer than some fifteen examples. A list of the birds 

 collected and observed is appended, and also one of the mammals 

 contributed by Mr. de Winton. 



The Vertebrate Fauna of Bedfordshire : Birds. By J. Steele- 

 Elliott. Printed for private circulation. 



In our volume for 1897 (p. 486) we drew attention to the 

 commencement of this excellent publication, as much a contri- 

 bution of good work as of private enterprise in the cause of 

 ornithology. We have now received the conclusion of the 

 " Birds," with an intimation from the author that he does not 

 intend publishing the memoirs of the other vertebrates, as he is 

 doing that work for the Victorian History of the County. We 

 hope, however, that in a few years Mr. Steele-Elliott will return 

 to his self-imposed task, and give us the complete description 

 of the fauna which he has so well begun. At all events, his 

 present instalment affords a history of the birds of Bedfordshire. 



