NATURE NOTES. 
1 16 
the geography of the district ; and withal so precise and clear are the directions 
that the rambler has has only himself to blame if he loses his way. An extremely 
useful feature of these books is the insertion in the text of artificial milestones, 
which are printed in black type and show the traveller how far he has walked, 
thus enabling him to calculate his chances of catching a desired train at the end 
of his ramble. Another point which, so far as I'know, has not been taken up 
by Mr. Miles or his reviewers is that, as the routes are described for one direction 
only, you can, after mastering them in this direction, test the value of your 
acquired knowledge and at the same time you can double the practical utility of 
Mr. Miles’s work, by taking the walks in the reverse direction, for this purpose 
relying on the vividness of your own recollection of the paths previously traversed, 
if your geographical memory be a good one ; or, if unable to trust your unaided 
memory, you can refresh it by a free use of the admirable maps supplied by the 
author, and by gleaning from the text such hints as are likely to put you in the 
right way. 
But to return to Mr. Miles’s present publication. The Surrey Hills series 
treats of a most charming tract of country, measuring twenty-four miles from east 
to west, and ten from north to south, that is to say, from beyond Redhill to 
beyond Guildford, and from Leatherhead to Ockley, with Dorking near the 
centre. It contains a network of some three hundred miles of carefully described 
walks, which are as admirably suited for those who may spend a few weeks’ vacation 
in the district as for the overworked Londoner who is wise enough to make the 
most wholesome use he can of his infrequent Bank Holiday. For the benefit of 
the former class Mr. Miles has appended a scheme of suggested tours lasting 
a week or fortnight, and providing a daily walk of either not more than ten or not 
more than fifteen miles, and ending each day at some place where a night’s 
lodging is most likely to be obtained. To nature-lovers such as all Selbornians 
are, this scheme of walking tours ought to recommend itself very strongly, for 
there is no other district within such easy reach of London where wild nature is 
wilder or more natural. The nightingales just now are so numerous and noisy 
as to be almost a nuisance. There are many unenterprising folk who are 
accustomed to spend their holiday year after year at the seaside, where they 
vary the monotony of existence by enduring the pangs of 7 nal de mer at so much 
an hour in a so-called pleasure-boat. Mortals of this description would do much 
better to drop this habit of drowsing away their holiday at the seaside and to 
take lodgings for a month somewhere in the Surrey Hills, actively exploring the 
neighbourhood, and vainly, but laudably, attempting to exhaust its lavish natural 
charms of upland, wood and dell. They will find it to be rural England at its 
very best, and yet so near to London as to afford most of the luxuries of modern 
life. 
It will be a great source of gratification to Mr. Miles’s dienteh to know that 
he is preparing yet another series of rambles — the Surrey Hedgerows, which will 
exploit the country lying outside that which forms the subject of the Surrey Hills 
series. The first part will include Croydon, Caterham, Epsom, &c., and thereby 
will link the latter series to the author’s earlier venture — the West Kent series. 
A. Gepp. 
SELBORNIANA. 
Fur and. Fashion. — I should like to call the attention of the members of 
the Selborne .Society to the following, cut from the Sun of December 13 : — “ One 
of the queerest companies recently started is that formed to breed black cats upon 
an island in the Paget Sound. Cats imported from the Netherlands will be used 
in breeding, and the animals will be fed on fish. A large profit is expected from 
the skins.” Surely the encouragement of the increase of animal life, to be taken 
for the gratification of an extravagant, and in this country unnecessary fashion, is 
.scarcely warrantable. It is painful to consider the daily slaughter that takes place 
