NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
15 7 
Where Wild Birds Sing. By James E. Whiting. London : 
Sydney C. Mayle. 
The author of this volume describes it in his preface as a 
“record of his love for ‘The Earth, our Mother,’ and of the 
lessons he has learnt during hours snatched from the daily 
demands of his calling as a working naturalist.” It is a speci- 
men of a class of work which has recently become very numerous, 
in which the writer describes Nature as she appears to his eyes. 
We cannot agree with all the author’s statements ; indeed, if we 
examine this little volume closely we may discover a good deal 
which is open to criticism. It is hardly correct, for instance, to 
talk of March as the month in which the Blackcap arrives, or to 
give “ Buffo ” as the Latin name for the toad. On the other 
hand, here and there we find some interesting notes. Mr. 
Whiting has seen the green woodpecker and nuthatch in the 
early morning in Bloomsbury, and he gives a good description 
of the awakening of a thrush. He evidently appreciates nature 
himself, and his vocation has enabled him to see a good deal of 
her. If a perusal of “ Where Wild Birds Sing ” makes others 
use their eyes and ears it will have served a useful purpose. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Races Of Mankind. — The Rev. H. N. Hutchinson (author of Extinct 
Monsters) is at present engaged in making a large collection of photographs from 
life of native races of all countries, including Pacific islands, to illustrate a popular 
work which he will publish next year with Messrs. Hutchinson & Co., 34, Pater- 
noster Row, E.C. For this purpose he is willing to buy good, strong, and clear 
photos, of men, women and children — some in groups, others as single figures. 
Silver prints will be preferred. Readers of Naturb Notes who have such 
photographs are invited to communicate with Mr. Hutchinson, through his 
publishers. 
Maternal Instinct of Roe-deer. — Miss M. A. B. Fulcher, of Dereham, 
Norfolk, writes that in Gandersheim (Germany), where foxes abound, a sports- 
man, waiting to shoot a roebuck, saw a doe come out of the thicket with her 
fawn, followed by a fox. The fox overtook the fawn and sprang on to it, when 
the doe raised herself on her hind legs and so belaboured the fox with her fore- 
feet, that he beat a retreat. 
Widgeon breeding in Captivity.— Mr. George Rooper, of Nascott 
House, Watford, records the remarkable fact of a widgeon ( Mareca fenelofe) 
sitting on seven eggs near his pond. The duck, he says, scarcely left her nest 
even for food, whilst the drake was very attentive, but never approached the 
nest, swimming about at a little distance. Five eggs were hatched and the 
young widgeons, comical self-possessed little black morsels, not bigger than 
walnuts, separated within four or five hours from leaving the shell, like a handful 
of peas, swimming rapidly all over the pond, snapping up flies or other insects 
on the surface, without heeding one another or their mother. It being impossible 
to feed them, two died ; but the rest began in about a week to eat grass like their 
parents. The mother sailed about the pond, uttering a short discordant croak 
and to all appearance quite careless of the existence of her offspring, but evincing 
the greatest animosity towards the father of her family, attacking him violently 
whenever he approached. A brood of wild duck ( Anas boscas), on the other 
