26 
Notes and Comments. 
MR. W. H. ST. QUINTIN’S BIRDS . 1 
The publishers have put us under a further debt of gratitude 
by issuing this delightful and well-illustrated volume. 
Interest is being continued in wild fowl and in our public 
parks and private aviaries can still be seen such species as 
can readily be kept in captivity in this country. The present 
work is all the more welcome as it describes the species 
preserved in the wonderful aviaries and gardens of a former 
President of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, and one who 
has done so much for the preservation of bird life, both in 
captivity and in the wilds, namely, Mr. W. H. St. Quintin. 
The author was formerly in Mr. St. Quintin’s employment, 
and the species described are those which he personally 
observed at Scampston Hall. As many of our members who 
have had the privilege of visiting Scampston know, the birds 
there are kept under as natural conditions as is possible. The 
species are described under the heads of Herons, Storks, Geese, 
Swans, Small Water Fowl, Tree Ducks, Diving Ducks ; 
Sand Grouse, Pheasants, Tragopans, Partridges Quails, 
Hemipodes or Bustard Quails, Grouse, Rails, Cranes, Bustards, 
Small Waders, Gulls, Aviaries, Foods and Feeding, Pear-Moss 
Litter, Overcrowding, New Arrivals. Catching up and 
handling, Packing birds for travel, Feather clipping and 
pinioning, Vermin, Diseases, Accidents. The variety of the 
different species under these headings is remarkable. For 
instance, there are no fewer than twenty different species of 
pheasants, seven different Sand Grouse, and so on. There 
are some excellent illustrations, and we notice the photographs 
are by Peter Scott, the son of Scott the Explorer ; Sir Digby 
Legard, Bt. ; and Oxley Grabham. 
DR. HARKER’s LATEST WORK . 2 
When, forty years ago, our colleague Dr. A. Harker dis- 
continued preparing the Annual Bibliographies of the Geology 
of the North of England for this journal, and handed the work 
over to the present writer, he did not remain idle, and from 
time to time we have had the privilege of drawing attention to 
extraordinarily scholarly volumes which have appeared from 
his pen, some of which have already an international reputation. 
The present book contains a series of lectures delivered at 
Cambridge and is certainly the ‘ last word ’ on the subject. 
The author tells us that ' Metamorphism is here conceived, not 
as a status, but as a process ; viz. : a progressive change in 
response to changing conditions of temperature and stress.’ 
1 Water-Fowl and Game-Birds in Captivity, by Arthur F. Moody. 
London : H. F. & G. Witherby, 240 pp., 10/6 net. 
2 Metamorphism : A Study of the Transformation of Rock Masses, by 
Alfred Harker. London : Methuen & Co., x-f-360 pp., 17/6 net. 
The Naturalist 
