498 



KECREA TJOX. 



Mr. Brown enlisted and became one of 

 the 12 picked men, called Salisbury scouts, 

 whose duty required them to ride far in 

 advance of the main column, and locate the 

 enemy. Hudson's admirable illustration, 

 reproduced on page 450 of this issue of 

 Recreation, was drawn from the author's 

 description of the escape of the Salisbury 

 scouts when attacked, and surrounded by 

 2.000 Matabele warriors. Finally Mr. Brown 

 was wounded, and by the time he recovered 

 the rebellion had been suppressed. 



As a clear-minded, level-headed man of 

 affairs, with malice toward none and char- 

 ity for all, Mr. Brown's opinions regard- 

 ing the future of Rhodesia and its people 

 will be read on both sides of the Atlantic 

 with keen interest. Regarding the future 

 of Rhodesia, of its prospects of becom- 

 ing a rich and populous country, he is an 

 optimist. He believes it is a fine field for 

 sturdy, sober men who have a fair stock 

 of patience, some money, and who are 

 willing to work. 



Regarding the negro of Rhodesia, and 

 his future, he is a pessimist, pure and sim- 

 ple. He believes the natives natural ten- 

 dencies toward vice and slothfulness indicate 

 that there is not in him the stuff from 

 which fine people are made. He believes 

 the white race will eventually crowd the 

 blacks farther North, and advocates for 

 the latter a black reservation! 



As loyal Americans, we have good reas- 

 son to be proud of the good record that our 

 countryman has made for himself on the 

 South African frontier. Wherever he has 

 gone, he has caused the name "American" 

 to be more respected. The leading news- 

 paper of Rhodesia, the "Rhodesia Herald," 

 once publicly . expressed regret that Wil- 

 liam H. Brown is not an Englishman! Eng- 

 lish praise can go no farther than this. 



On the South African Frontier: The 

 Adventures and Observations of an Amer- 

 ican in Mashonaland and Matabeleland, by 

 William H. Brown. 8vo. xxii x 430. 32 

 full-page illustrations. 2 colored maps. 

 New York. Charles Scribners' Sons. 

 $300. 



"THEY KILLED HIM IN THE CHRISTENING. 



The 9th volume of the "Cambridge 

 Natural History" is a stately work, design- 

 ed as a guide to the classification of the 

 birds of the world. It is a work of refer- 

 ence, both for the student and the trained 

 zoologist, and its place on the shelf is be- 

 side Flower and Lydekker's "Mammalia. 

 Living and Extinct." Professor Evans has 

 endeavored to furnish in one volume of 

 reasonable size a complete general survey 

 of the world's birds, living and fossil, and to 

 bring their scientific classification down to 



date. It happens that zoological classifica- 

 tion, when carried out to 7 decimal 

 places, makes rather dull literature for the 

 general reader. Even the author appreci- 

 ates this fact, and on the back of his title 

 page he hangs up this very droll bluff from 

 Virgil: "Loons disport themselves on dry 

 matter!" 



The Atlantic Ocean is not much wider 

 than the difference between Professor 

 Evan's scheme of classification and that 

 adopted here by the A. O. U. A study of 

 the table in this volume, and the recently 

 published '"Ninth Supplement" to the A. 

 O. U. Check List, gives one a feeling of 

 sadness Instead of classification being 

 made clearer and more stable year by year, 

 the insane exaltation of "scientific nomen- 

 clature" on both sides of the Atlantic is 

 steadily bringing avian classification into 

 hopeless confusion. If the technologists 

 should deliberately strive to muddle a sub- 

 ject that might be made understandable by 

 all lovers of birds, they could scarcely do 

 more than they are doing now. What is a 

 layman to think of a system which classes 

 the cuckoos and the parrots in the same or- 

 der (cucuJiforiues) or of the order coraci- 

 formes, into which are dumped, pell-melL 

 the kingfishers, hornbills, owls, goatsuck- 

 ers, swifts, humming-birds, trogons, and 

 woodpeckers? Yet this is what Doctor 

 Gadow invented, and Professor Evans now 

 seriously puts forth. I know not precisely 

 to what extent this fearful and wonderful 

 system is adopted by other European orni- 

 thologists, but even if it were advocated by 

 every technologist on earth, it would be 

 none the less ridiculous, or mischievous. 



But let us not quarrel with the author 

 over Doctor Gadow's scheme of classifica- 

 tion. The body of Professor Evan's work 

 is a real treasury of ornithological know- 

 ledge, made fully available by a magnificent 

 index of 45 pages. It is a book which will 

 be eminently useful all over the world. Its 

 terse descriptions of marked distinguishing; 

 features cover thousands of species and rep- 

 resent a mountain of labor. In general, its 

 method of treatment resembles that of the 

 volume on birds in the Standard Natural 

 History, the main difference being that 

 Professor Evans treats a much larger num- 

 ber of species, but treats them more briefly,, 

 than Doctor Stejneger and his colleagues 

 have done. Of course, Evans takes pains 

 to set forth the characters of typical forms, 

 not only in the various families, but in the 

 important genera as well; and prefixed to 

 each group is a concise summary of facts 

 relating to the structure and habits of its 

 members. 



The Cambridge Natural Historv. Vol. 

 IX. Birds. By A. H. Evans, M.A.. Clare 

 College, Cambridge, 8vo. pp. XVI. -h 635. 

 144 wood cuts in text. New York. The 

 Macmillan Company, $3-50. 



