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NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



Travels of a Naturalist in Northern Europe. By J. A. Harvie- 

 Brown, F.B.S.E., &c. T. Fisher Unwin. 



These volumes in part constitute a welcome echo of a notable 

 expedition long since described by Seebohm, and contain the 

 notes written at the time by the other member, and apparently 

 actual promoter, of the journey. The narrative of Seebohm is 

 now supplemented by the original journal of Harvie-Brown, and, 

 if the general reader will be more attracted by the first, the 

 practical ornithologist will revel in the facts and details which 

 are fully recorded in these two volumes, and which will prove 

 invaluable to those who may contemplate covering the same 

 ground, if they do not, as we think they will, incite others to visit 

 and collect in those desolate regions.* These daily records will 

 provide future travellers with a knowledge of what to expect, and 

 how best to realize these expectations ; they also inspire dreams 

 of further ornithological conquests. The discoveries made during 

 the expedition are so well known to ornithologists as to render 

 their repetition unnecessary, at least in this notice ; but Mr. 

 Harvie-Brown's notes contain much that is more than simply 

 interesting, particularly as relates to the perching habits of 

 birds in the region of the Petchora, which do not perch, or but 

 seldom do so, in other countries. This aptitude is regarded by 

 the author as " undoubtedly forced upon the birds by the great 

 flooding of the country, and what was originally forced upon 

 them has become a favourite habit." 



The volumes also contain an account of two northern trips 

 made in the company of the late E. E. Alston, a naturalist who 

 now a quarter of a century ago left us all too soon. These 

 journeys to Norway and Archangel, apart from their own 

 reward, incited the idea of "Eastward still," which resulted 



:; - In the ' Geelong Naturalist' (2), ii. p. 75 (1905) appears an account of 

 'A Trip through Northern Siberia," by K. E. Trebilcock, who was accom- 

 panied by Eobert Hall, the well-known Australian ornithologist. 



