NOTICHS OF NEW BOOKS. 327 
and an Oak; but when we approach what may be called the 
introduction to organic life, we may well hold with the author, 
‘that there is no absolute criterion for determining whether a 
given unicellular or few-celled organism is a plant or an animal.” 
Such axioms really lie at the base of all biological philosophy, 
and to have them taught early is to have them taught well. 
Ackworth Birds: bemg a List of Birds of the District of 
Ackworth, Yorkshire. By Major Wauter B. ARUNDEL. 
Gurney & Jackson. 
Turis is the latest addition to our local lists of British birds ; 
it is confined to ‘‘ Ackworth and the neighbourhood around for a 
distance of from three to four miles”; the soil is for the most 
part loam or clay, and in some places is marl ; it is about fifty 
miles from the sea-coast at its nearest point; the river Went—a 
small stream tributary to the river Don—runs through the centre 
of the district, which also includes the lake at Nostell and 
Hemsworth Dam; while against these natural beauties we read 
that ‘‘half-a-dozen collieries are worked within, or close to, the 
district, towards its northerly and westerly confines.”’ 
The total number of species enumerated is 149, of which 54 
are permanent residents, 26 regular summer residents, 9 regular 
winter residents, and 60 visitors. We are glad to find “that, in 
spite of the arts and designs of the gamekeeper, the Magpie is 
common in all wooded parts.” In connection with this bird an 
observation by a local farmer is recorded, of five Magpies ~ 
surrounding a Fox who was devouring a Rabbit, and on his being 
disturbed picked up the remainders. A “‘ Rooks’ parliament,”’ 
as witnessed by Dr. George Wood and the first Lord St. Oswald, 
is an example of what has been loosely called the romance 
of natural history. ‘A multitude of Rooks were formed up in a 
large ring, in a field, round a solitary, dejected-looking member 
of their species, and were making a great noise and flapping 
of wings, the only silent and quiet bird being the miserable 
individual in the centre of the ring. All at once there was 
perfect quietude and stillness, which lasted a minute or two, 
when suddenly the noise was resumed with unabated vigour, and 
the birds forming the ring closed in upon the unhappy one and 
