NATURE NOTES. 
184 
but the reader must remember that Nearctic “ warblers ” are not 
true warblers, as we use the word. This fact must be borne in 
mind while perusing Mr. Parkhurst’s remarks on the colours and 
habits of this group. The addition of the scientific names would 
have been a great improvement. It is not every English reader 
who knows that the American “ robin ” is a kind of thrush (it 
seems to resemble our blackbird in the habit of singing after a 
dripping summer shower), or that their “ white-throat ” is a song 
sparrow. And though our author tells us in one place that the 
“flicker” is the golden-winged woodpecker (a bird possessed 
of twelve other names !) the reader often finds himself at a loss 
to know the natural affinities of the birds whose names he 
encounters, and a reference to the grouped list in the “ Postlude ” 
does not always extricate him from his difficulty. We can 
cordially recommend this work to our readers. It is well calcu- 
lated to make one “ catch the fever ” which never again leaves 
the field-ornithologist ; and those who caught it long ago, or 
were born with it, will find a genuine delight in reading this 
author’s record, and some food for reflection in the pleasing 
discourses with which the narrative is interwoven. The plates 
are apparently reproductions of photographs of mounted groups 
of stuffed birds. This kind of illustration is seldom, if ever, 
satisfactory, and in this instance comes as a little surprise after 
reading the author’s remarks about “ beady-eyed, cotton-stuffed, 
and wire-mounted mummies,” &c. 
In his Chaptev on Birds,* Dr. Sharpe gives us an account 
of the life history of eighteen species of rare avian visitors to this 
country, drawing largely upon the writings of naturalists who 
have met with these species in life. Moreover, he has striven to 
give this little work a wider scope by saying “ a few words on 
the natural relations of the species, so as to give a little general 
information on the families to which they belong.” The result 
is a book containing, for its size, perhaps more useful and inter- 
esting information on British birds than any other. Dr. Sharpe’s 
generic and specific names are often so strange and new to some 
of us, that it is with some trepidation we suggest that a slip has 
really been made on page 74 ! The plates are executed in Mr. 
Keulemans’ best style, and have lost less than might have been 
feared in their reproduction in chromo-lithography. 
We have previously noticed at some length the two first 
volumes of the “ Fur and Feather Series,” edited by Mr. Alfred 
E. T. Watson, and with regard to the third — treating of the phea- 
santf — which has reached us, it is necessary to say little more 
* A Chapter on Birds, by R. Bowdler Sharpe, LL.D., F.L.S. &c. (Zoo- 
logical Department, British Museum). Rare British Visitors. Pp. ix. 124, 18 
coloured plates. (London : Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1895. 
Price 3s. 6d.) 
+ “ Fur and Feather Series:” The Pheasant. “ Natural History,” by the Rev. 
H. A. Macpherson ; “ Shooting,” by A. J. Stuart-VVortley ; “ Cookery,” by 
Alexander Innes Shand, pp. viii., 265, 10 plates, vignette and diagrams. (London : 
Longmans, Green & Co., 1895, S®-) 
