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NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



Wild Life in Australia. By W. H. Dudley Le Souef, C.M.Z.S., 

 &c. Whitcombe & Tombs, Limited. 



This is by far the best and most interesting book on the 

 general Natural History of Australia that has appeared since 

 Bennett's ' Gatherings of a Naturalist.' It is crammed with 

 observations on animal life, and is full of illustrations acquired 

 through that truthful medium — the camera. Mr. Le Souef, as 

 Director of the Melbourne Zoological Gardens, is familiar with 

 his subject, and in this book he confines himself to descriptions 

 and impressions of a fauna in its natural and wild environment. 

 When, as he tells us — and as unfortunately we too well know — 

 that fauna is "fast disappearing," his pages are calculated to 

 be of lasting importance. 



Without laying much stress on evolutionary hypotheses, 

 Mr. Le Souef has contributed much first-hand information on 

 the relation of the colours of animals to their environment, and 

 his observations throw much light on this intricate question. 

 For the ornithologist there is abundance to charm and instruct. 

 The account of a vast nesting colony of the " Straw-necked 

 Ibis " may be taken as a sample. The swamp at the time of 

 visit was about six hundred acres in extent, and the minimum 

 number of these birds was estimated as two hundred thousand, 

 occupying about three hundred acres. This Ibis does not appear 

 to be a mere automaton in mental process. " On one occasion 

 they started nesting, and many eggs had been laid, when some 

 very hot weather came on and the shallow water dried rapidly 

 up. The birds evidently realized that it would be dry before 

 their young were hatched, so they deserted it in a body, and left 

 the eggs for the Crows to feast on." Their food consumption is 

 enormous. " The contents of an average crop of an adult bird, 

 by actual counting, were 2410 young grasshoppers, five fresh- 

 water snails, several caterpillars, and some coarse gravel, which, 



