REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES 
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The Birds of the British Islands. By Charles Stonham. With illustrations by 
L. M. Medland. In Twenty Parts. E. Grant Richards. Part I. Price 
7s. 6d. net each part. 
This is the first part of a truly magnificent quarto. It is excellently printed 
on pure rag paper, and contains sixteen plates, printed separately, besides two 
showing the “ topography ” of a bird’s plumage. There will in the complete 
work, the parts of which are not sold separately, be three hundred or more illus- 
trations, which are all original, and seem to be reproduced in black by some photo- 
gravure process which admirably renders the texture of the artist’s work. Neither 
nests nor eggs are figured ; but in his concise but most careful descriptions the 
author gives the average egg-measurement from Dresser’s “ Manual,” together 
with a full discussion of the derivation of the names and an account of the plumage 
sufficient to enable any one to identify the birds. 
A Pocket-book of British Birds. By E. F. M. Elms. West, Newman and Co. 
Price 2s. 6d. 
This appears to us a useful companion for the field ornithologist. Arranged 
in scientific sequence the birds may be difficult for the tyro to identify, and we 
do not altogether agree with the author in his reasons for omitting local names ; 
but, when once the species is known, we have here concise, accurate, well- 
tabulated notes on migration, haunts, language, habits, food, nesting period, 
site and materials, and eggs, together with the predominant features of the 
plumage. The book has an index : it is well printed and serviceably bound ; 
and has at the end some blank pages for notes ; whilst it is neither too large nor 
too heavy for the pocket. 
A Revised Key to Hepatics of the British Islands. By Symers M. Macvicar. 
Eastbourne : V. T. Sumfield, Station Street. Price 9d. 
This is a dichotomous key, based on the underleaves, to the genera and 
species of our Ilepaticae, the nomenclature being that of the Moss Exchange 
Club Census Catalogue. It cannot fail to prove useful to the collector. In the 
latter portion (pp. 9-19) the genera are arranged alphabetically, with a separate 
key to the species of each of them. As the previous key is headed (p. 5) 
“ Genera,” there should, we imagine, have been a corresponding heading, 
“ Species,” on p. 9. 
The Butterflies of the British Isles. By Richard South. F. Warne and Co. 
Price 6s. net. 
Whilst Mr. South’s name is a guarantee of its scientific accuracy and thorough- 
ness, the publishers have succeeded in making this little volume a very marvel of 
cheapness. Of the thirteen thousand known species of butterflies, some seven 
hundred belong to the Paltearctic Region, but not more than sixty-eight at most 
can be considered as British. Figuring, however, not only every species but 
many varieties, the author gives us no less than 450 coloured figures from photo- 
graphs, besides uncoloured drawings of the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and food 
plant of each species. After an adequate introduction describing the life-cycle of 
a butterfly and the methods of collecting, mounting, &c. , we have 170 pages 
devoted to the individual species, a classified list of their scientific names, and an 
index. Got up, as it is, in pocket size, measuring only 6£ by 4^ inches, and with 
round corners to its simple blue cloth cover, the book is in every way adapted as 
a companion to the field naturalist. 
The Homeland Handbooks : King's Lynn with its Surroundings. Price is. net. 
Dorking and Leatherhead with their Surroundings. Price is. net. And 
Harold's Town and its Vicinity , Waltham , Cheshunt and High Beech. 
Price 6d. net. Homeland Association. 
This excellent series of handbooks — guide-books which are well worth reading 
again and again even by the stay-at-home — have set their own standard of 
comparison. No one could have been selected who would have been likely to 
do more justice to King’s Lynn, with its ruined monasteries and gates, its 
churches and brasses and other relics of the merchant princes of a bygone age, 
to Castle Rising and to Sandringham, than Mr. W. A. Dutt ; but in the wealth 
of his archaeological material, we miss the references to the fauna and flora which 
appear in other volumes of the series. If Mr. Joseph Morris has a less romantic 
story to tell of Dorking, Box Hill, Leith Hill, Wotton and Leatherhead, and 
