+7 eS a H S eed 2 Bie 35 
_ tants. B 
REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES. 163 
taken place to bring about the present topographical features of 
France. 
_The data from which the conclusions of Delesse have been drawn 
are carefully tabulated aud published as an independent appendix 
to the general text. s work was nearly completed at the break- 
ing out of the war, sais the unavoidable: delay occasioned will ac- 
count for the absence of reference to much that has been done of 
late by the Scandinavian, American and English governments. 
These matters of omissions are of slight importance, and we 
recommend this suggestive volume to all who are interested in 
the study of geology as deduced from agencies now at work on the 
surface of our globe.—A. Agassiz. 
Hanpsoox or Bririsn Brrps.*—Justly observing, of several ad- 
mirable works on British Ornithology, that “they do not distin- 
guish with sufficient clearness the species which are truly indige- 
nous to Great Britedin from those which are but rare and accidental 
visitants; nor do they indicate with sufficient authority the sci- 
entific nomenclature which should be adopted ”— the author under- 
takes to supply these deficiencies in a Handbook which is not 
“intended to rival or supplant existing or forthcoming text- 
books on the subject, but to assist students in a manner and to an 
-extent which has not been contemplated in the works referred to.” 
‘ Thé claims of species to rank as British, the proper scientific 
names which each should bear, the habitat of the rarer visitants, 
and the frequency or otherwise of their occurrence are points to 
which attention is almost exclusively directed.” The author has 
thus had a definite plan of work, which has been unquestionably 
executed with fidelity and ability ; and though we are not prepared 
to judge the accuracy of his statements in detail, we should say 
that they show intrinsic evidences of reliability, both from the 
author’s evident familiarity with his theme, and from the obvious 
Care with which he has compiled and digested the statistics of 
those observations which, in the nature of the case, he cannot have 
‘personally made or verified. 
Following an introduction which contains much ihisveltanéous 
information besides a comprehensive survey of the matter in hand, 
Comes a freely annotated list of the residents, migrants and annual 
*A Handbook of British Birds showing the distribution of the resident a 
tory gene in the British Islands, with an Index to the Reeords of the sg Visi- 
- HARTING, F.L.S., F.Z.S., etc. etc. London. 1872. 8yo. pp. xxiv, 198. 
