80 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Nimrod, Ramrod, Fishing-Rod, and Nature Tales. By J. 

 Whitaker, F.Z.S. H, B. Saxton, Nottingham. 



Mr. Whitaker, who is well known to the readers of ' The 

 Zoologist ' as an ornithologist, has in this book shown himself 

 to be an all-round sportsman, not only with the gun and fishing- 

 rod, but also at the hunt and on the turf. This catholicity in 

 pursuit gives these pages the charm of a naturalist writing as a 

 sportsman, and a sportsman as a naturalist, and we hope that 

 one day the author may give a larger volume of personal 

 reminiscences derived from these varied experiences. 



Visits to Selborne and Walton, with illustrations of the 

 graves of both Gilbert White and Charles Waterton, will appeal 

 to all naturalists. As regards the Cuckoo, some interesting 

 points are detailed. Thus: "Early on in May the call is 

 cuc-koo; about the middle of June it is zuc oh; after this the 

 voice commences to break, and they call cuc-cuc-cuc-on." Like 

 many other field ornithologists r Mr. Whitaker is " no believer 

 of the March Cuckoo," and he gives some amusing instances of 

 the way in which this belief has arisen. 



" A Winter's Day with the Perch " is one of those exceptional 

 opportunities which does not come in the way of all anglers ; but 

 why were only worms tried ? A small Gudgeon might have 

 effected a revelation in such a water, and the writer has not yet 

 forgotten the horror of hooking and losing the Perch of his life- 

 time with that bait at a weir on the Mole a season ago. " Seven 

 Hundred Miles for two Snipe" is one of those experiences that 

 befall all, the entomologist as well as the sportsman. Did we 

 not at one Yuletide in the Transvaal drive eighty miles over 

 heavy soddened veld to the proper locality and at the right time 

 for the capture of four species of insects ? We only brought two 

 back, one of which was given to us and the other we purchased. 



The illustrations comprise many varieties of birds, in which 

 Mr. Whitaker's collection is known to be particularly rich, and 

 the volume sustains its interest from start to finish. 



