NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 235 



bouring counties of York, Derby, Denbigh, and Flint, our 

 knowledge of the more ancient fauna is slight." The marine 

 mammalian fauna is not extensive owing to " the short mileage 

 of the actual Cheshire coast, the shallowness of Liverpool Bay, 

 and the distance of the estuaries from the main route of 

 migratory cetaceans and seals." The Bats are fully treated, 

 and much information derived from actual observation is given ; 

 this was to have been expected, for our authors, even in the 

 pages of ' The Zoologist,' have given frequent proof of their 

 local study of these animals. The account of the domesticated 

 herd of polled white Park Cattle kept at Somerford Park, near 

 Congleton, is fully illustrated, and contains many interesting 

 facts and figures. 



"There is satisfactory evidence of the occurrence in a wild 

 state of two hundred and thirty-one species of birds in Cheshire 

 during the present and last centuries," and since the publication 

 of the same authors' ' Birds of Cheshire ' in 1900 several species 

 have been added to the county list. These comprise the Cirl 

 Bunting, Mealy Eedpoll, Woodchat, Shore Lark, Shag, American 

 Blue-winged Teal, Kentish Plover, Schlegel's Petrel, andBaillon's 

 Crake. One hundred and twelve species breed, or bred until 

 recently, within the county boundaries. The Nightingale is 

 included on the grounds of greater probability. At the end of 

 April, 1896, we read that a Nightingale made its appearance in 

 a hanging wood at Oakwood Hall, on the bank of the Mersey, 

 the property then of a late resident, Ephraim Hallam. The 

 presence of the bird or birds attracted " large crowds," and, 

 apprehensive of damage to his property, Ephraim Hallam gave 

 instructions that the Nightingale should be scared away. This 

 was done by the firing of blank cartridges — one beneath the tree 

 in which the bird was singing. "The male was neither seen nor 

 heard again, but it is not certain that the firing was responsible 

 for the silence, as two days later the gardener saw the hen with 

 food in her beak, and it appears probable that the eggs were 

 then hatched." 



Vol. ii. opens with an account of " The Dee as a Wildfowl 

 Resort," by Mr. John A. Dockray. It is the same old story of what 

 is called industrial civilization destroying the beauties of nature ; 

 adding to the mercantile wealth of a county by the obliteration 



