136 
NATURE NOTES. 
lecture-room or on board ship, he was always a genial companion, and those who 
have accompanied him in his expeditions, found in him not only a scientific 
enthusiast but an agreeable fellow-traveller. Mr. Cortie gives an account of these 
expeditions, which included visits to Kerguelen’s Land, Madagascar, and the 
West Indies ; and the little volume, which is suitably illustrated, is well worth 
the shilling which it costs. 
Here are two more books about the garden — this time of transatlantic origin, 
Messrs. Putnam send us The Garden as considered in Literature by certain Polite 
Writers , with a critical essay by Walter Howe ; and we have from Mr. Heine- 
mann The Garden's Story , or Pleasures and Trials of an Amateur Gardener , by 
G. H. Ellwanger. The first is one of the dainty little pocket volumes called 
“ Knickerbocker Nuggets.” It contains extracts from the two Plinys, Bacon, Sir 
William Temple, The Spectator (Addison, and Pope or Parnell), The Guardian 
(Pope), Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Thomas Whately, Goldsmith, Horace 
Walpole and Evelyn. Mr. Ellwanger’s book is prefaced by an introduction by 
the Rev. C. Wolley Dod. The essays which compose it do not present anything 
very new. Although written from an American standpoint, and often employing 
American names, there is a good deal to stimulate interest and arouse curiosity. 
The chapter on “ The Rock Garden,” for instance, draws attention to several 
useful plants which are not much employed by us in these situations. The beau- 
tiful printing of the book, with the charming floral headings and tail-pieces, 
render it extremely suitable as a present to anyone who loves a garden, even if he 
is not fortunate enough to possess one. 
SELBORNIANA. 
Kingfishers on the Cam and Isis.— Mr. F. A. Ilort, of Emmanuel 
College, Cambridge, writes as follows on the articles of the Rev. Ii. D. Gordon, 
deploring the rapid decrease of the kingfisher at Oxford and in other places : — “ I 
am happy to be able to say that this is not the case everywhere. Certainly, in 
Cambridgeshire, I am inclined to think that kingfishers are rather on the increase 
than otherwise. On the Cam they are still quite abundant, a river one would 
naturally suppose they might not be likely to frequent, as it is essentially, so to 
speak, a fashionable river, one on which numbers of boats may be seen daily. 
Between the hours of two and six, I admit, kingfishers are rarely, if ever, seen : 
these being the hours in which the boats are mostly taken out. That they breed 
freely on the Cam every year I have no manner of doubt. In Wiltshire, on the 
river Kennet, kingfishers were certainly not scarce two years ago. Goldfinches, 
as far as my experience goes, have decreased terribly in numbers during the last 
three years. I had only hoped that this decrease was not universal, but the 
testimony of Mr. Gordon shatters that hope. “The redstarts are rarer still, ’ 
says the same w'riter. This does astonish me ! I can only say that Rubicilla 
phoenicurus is as plentiful as ever in Cambridgeshire, equally so in the neighbour- 
hood of Brecon, South Wales, and was by no means rare two years ago in Wilt- 
shire. The black redstart — R. ti/ys—l have never seen alive, but am glad to 
hear it is becoming common in some parts. 
“ As to swallows becoming scarce, that is equally extraordinary to me. Last 
year in Yorkshire, where there seems to have been so few in 1SS6, they were 
quite plentiful ; that is to say, in the neighbourhood of Whitby. In Cambridge- 
shire, in the last two years, they have been so numerous that I was wondering 
where they all came from.” 
On the other hand Mr. Gordon sends us the following extract from the 
Oxford Times. F.W.L. writes: — -“While boating on the streams around the 
city, or strolling along the river banks, the absence of the kingfisher this season 
is very noticeable. Since the very severe weather experienced during last winter, 
I have noticed but one bird. This solitary individual haunted a pretty part of 
the stream at Godstow, and several mornings in succession I detected it as it 
skimmed across or down the river. This w'as in April, towards the end of the 
month. Since that time I have looked for kingfishers in vain, nor have I heard 
of any being noticed in the neighbourhood, with the exception of a pair above 
Bablock Hythe. This scarcity, however, is not confined to this district alone, 
for I have noticed in various natural history periodicals many notes from different 
