16 
British Birds. 
a lighter brown ; tail, dark brown with the outer feathers greyish ; 
under surface, white with a faint pinkish tinge ; flanks, buflish ; bill, 
blackish ; legs and feet, slaty-grey ; iris, white. Total length 5;^ ins., 
of which the tail measures barely one third. Adult Female : Similar, 
but slightly smaller and the lines of her plumage more subdued. The 
nestling plumage of both sexes is similar to that of the adult female, 
but the light margins of the wing feathers are more pronounced. 
I have found British and Foreign species to agree fairly well 
together in the same aviarv. 
Preserving Gentles for Winter Use. 
By R. Sdggitt. 
Possibly the following may be known to our members, but it 
was new to me when I stumbled across it in the following manner. 
During last March as I was digging over part of my aviary in prepara- 
tion for re-sodding, in a part where the previous summer I had reared 
two broods of Harlequin Quails under a frame, I turned up a number 
of maggots quite fresh and not even turned into^the pupae stage ; there 
were scores of them which had been scattered among the grass in June 
and August — this decided me to try and store them in some similar 
manner for winter use. To this end, during the months of August, 
September, and October, I bred many more than I required for immed- 
iate use ; these I placed in tins full of wet sand ; some of the tins I 
buried, others I kept in a shed, moistening the sand from time to time 
to prevent pupation or the imagos from emerging. I also buried a tank ; 
some four feet by two, to the ground level, into which I put several 
gallons of gentles ; these I examined to-day (December 30th), they were 
perfectly fresh and 1 am sure no one could tell them from recently bred 
ones. I estimate that this store will last me all through the winter — 
the experiment has certainly proved a complete success. 
Book Notices and Reviews. 
The Birds of the British Islands, by Charles Stonham, 
C.M.G., F.R.C.S., F.Z.S., with illustrations by L. M. Medland, 
F.Z.S. Parts xiv and xv. Roy. quarto. Grant Richartls. 
It is scarcely too much to say that the numbers of this 
slowly maturing work are progressive in their excellence, whether 
we regard the interest of the letterpress or the beauty of the illus- 
