NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 159 



days now long past, may remember that animal domiciled and 

 captive in certain sporting resorts where " Badger-drawing," so 

 called, was and could be witnessed ; a cruel practice, now 

 happily discarded. This book takes us to the creature in its 

 natural haunts and advocates its preservation ; may Brock 

 long remain with us despite much ignorant persecution ! 



As regards the vexed question of mange and its possible dis- 

 persion by Badgers and Foxes, the evidence seems to promote a 

 negative conclusion. Brock is a very cleanly animal, and 

 Badgers " may very occasionally become mangy in a country in 

 which the scourge has for long been prevalent among Foxes." 

 Mr. Blakeborough has "no hesitation in saying that Badgers in 

 a hunting country do far more to aid and abet the sport than to 

 spoil it. Man, with his desire to have the credit of preserving 

 Foxes, and still rear a huge breed of Pheasants, with a mini- 

 mum of danger, has done far more to ruin Foxes and Fox- 

 hunting than ever Brock has or will do. Hand- fed, hand-reared 

 Foxes are the mangy, ring-running brutes so often found now- 

 adays." 



As regards the theory of protective colouring as applied to 

 the Badger, some reasonable and qualifying facts are con- 

 tributed. " If the Badger wears the best coloration for night, 

 why was a Fox made red with a white tag often to his brush 

 instead of white on his face ? He also is a nocturnal animal. 

 If a black tail is concealing, a white tail is revealing. The 

 Batel, similarly coloured in many respects to the Badger, is 

 diurnal as well as nocturnal, so that what is supposed to suit a 

 nocturnal animal has to do duty by daylight too." 



The book is well and pleasantly illustrated. 



Animal Communities in Temperate America, as illustrated in the 

 Chicago Region ; a Study in Animal Ecology. By Victor 

 E. Shelford, Ph.D. London: The Cambridge University 

 Press. 



This book is the result of a study of the whole animal life of 

 a distinct area in connection with its environment. This is too 

 seldom done. Few naturalists, indeed, are intimately ac- 

 quainted with the whole fauna attached or incidental to their 



