REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES 
93 
The Art of Field Observation and Home-Note Making. A Lecture by tlie Rev. 
E. Adrian Woodruffe-iVacock. I.K)uth : Gouldinjj and Son. Price is, post 
free. 
A inany-sideii naturalist of the last generation, the Rev. Leonard Blomeheld 
(«t' Jenyns), published a very useful instruction, “How to Observe,” and now 
another many-sided clerical naturalist teaches us how to record our observations. 
The author speaks of “the double sphere of the Field Naturalist’s working life. 
At one time we are, as it were, in the open air, amid the green pastures, wood- 
lands, and streams of the country, in which the student of nature delights. Then, 
again, we are by his study table, watching him making notes on the living things 
he judges to be worthy of permanent record.” Without quite equalling Professor 
Miall in contempt for the mere list-maker, Mr. Woodrufte- Peacock says : “ Any- 
one with patient industry can make reams full of notes — a whole library of them, 
I might say — but a man of method alone notes the valuable facts, and can refer 
to them in a second.” As an example of his own admirably correlated observa- 
tions we may quote the following : “ In the huge area of drilt .sand in North 
Lincolnshire otherwise suitable, the Stone-Curlew can only use the spots where 
the arrow-head makers of old gathered the Hints together, which protect the eggs 
and young alike by ‘sympathetic colouration.’” The whole lecture is most 
suggestive and might usefully be placed in the hands of any young naturalist. 
Epsom College Natural History Society: Report for 1904.. Epsom: Andrews 
and Son. Price is. 6d. 
On the whole a satisfactory record of a year’s work is this report from one 
of our affiliated school societies. The full phenological records of plants, birds 
and Lepidoptera, the meteorological report and that on the weights and measure- 
ments of the boys are thoroughly well done. As a school society is naturally 
educational as well as local, the inclusion of a summary of a lecture on a general 
subject such as “ Venomous .Serpents ” is justifiable ; but it is to be regretted that 
at a time when so much valuable information has been obtained in the neighbour- 
hood on the zones in the Upper Chalk, the Geological .Section should be inactive ; 
and it is to be hoped that some of the photographers in the College will turn 
their cameras upon our wild plants. 
The University of Colorado Studies, Volume II., Number 3 (price 50 cents), 
contains Tables for the Identification of Rocky Mountain Coccida;, by 
r. D. A. Cockerell. 
The Animal World for April has as frontispiece a large illustration of the 
Egret, and also contains an article on Disappearing Birds, with illustrations 
of the Osprey, Ruff, Avocet, Kite, Buzzard and White-tailed and Golden Eagles. 
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds: Report for 1904, besides the 
incorporation of the Society, has much useful work to record, including the 
passing of the Pole-trap and St. Kilda Acts. 
The Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union. Part 31. A. Brown and 
Sons. Price is. net. 
In addition to the forty-second and forty-third annual reports of the Union, 
this number contains reprints of the Excursion Circulars for the last two years. 
These may well prove valuable, not only as a record for members who were 
present, but as guides to future visitors. It is a pity that with a view to such 
permanent preservation the circulars have not been printed on paper and with a 
page uniform with those of the Transactions. 
The Nature-Study Review, No. 2 (March), though still dealing too exclusively 
with general principles, has articles on school-gardens, on Sachs’ tablets for 
water-culture, and on moulds, or “ molds ” as they are called in American, so is 
more interesting than the first number. 
Received ; Report of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals for 1904 ; The Plant World and I he American Botanist for February ; 
The Wilson Bulletin for March ; and The Naturalist, The Irish Naturalist, 
Nature-Study, The Animals’ Friend, The Humanitarian, The Patents’ Review, 
The Agricultural Economist, The Estate Magazine and The Commonwealth for 
April. 
