The Irish Naturalist. November, r9r4 
At base of the latter large oyster shells were numerous in a hard 
grey sand, two feet thick, resting on hard red clay. I could find no other 
shells in the material I examined. The sandy blue clay had a few shells 
in a very fragmentary condition, I got one perfect valve of a small 
bivalve. The mottled red and blue clay had many fragments of chalk 
and of course the surface soil had some of the usual Kinnegar rude 
(Neolithic ?) flints and also chalk fragments. 
R, J. Welch. 
Belfast, 
REVIEW. 
THE BIRDS AND THE SCHOLARS. 
Bird Studies in twenty-four Lessons. By W. P. Westell, f.l.s., m.b.o.u.,. 
late Lecturer in Nature Study to the Cambridgeshire County CounciL 
(Cambridge Nature Study Series). Pp. 152. Price 2s. 6d. net. 
This little book consists of twenty-four " lessons," not so much on 
birds as on haw to study them, arranged in the order of the seasons, and 
written, as Mr. Westell tells us^ for the use of young people and their 
teachers in schools where nature study is included in the curriculum. 
The author says he has found the lessons helpful to his own classes ; 
and certainly any student who, as he goes through the book, sets himself 
to solve the series of " problems " appended to each of the lessons will, 
long before he has finished, have learnt to make pretty good use of his eyes 
when out in the fields. On the other hand, the boy who was expected to 
answer so many questions in writing at the end of each walk would with 
equal certainty, in nine cases out of ten, vote bird -study as great a plague 
as trigonometry. Some of the " lessons " are rather thin ; that on the 
making of census maps for nesting birds is perhaps the best, and an interest 
in this subject would undoubtedly save a good many of our birds the 
misfortune of being robbed. The author adds a list of books recommended 
for popular and school use. It is a serious fault in this list that so many 
of the wonderfully cheap and really good books which are now given to 
the public through the medium of shilling and sixpenny " Libraries " 
appear to have been wilfully ignored. For instance, Pycraft's Bird -Life, in 
Hodder and Stoughtou's " Useful Knowledge Series," and Kirkman's 
British Birds, in E. & C. Jack's " People's Books," are unmentioned^ 
though larger and more expensive books by the same authors are duly 
honoured ; and it is equally singular that while recommending Jefferies's 
Gamekeeper at Home, Mr. Westell should only name a los. 6d. edition, 
though the book (with all its original illustrations) is obtainable for a 
shilling in the well known Nelson series, and has several' other editions 
much below the price quoted. White's Selhorne seems to be the only book 
for which the author has gone out of his way to name a cheap edition, 
and here it would be hard to give any reason for the selection made. 
C. B. M. 
