Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/366

336 see, largely from these pages. Much, however, is still to be learned about the birds of Surrey. Many considerable areas and little visited spots have not been sufficiently patrolled by the intelligent or judicious collector, whose operations for good or evil? have now been considerably curtailed by the legislature, and whose reputed powers of mischief on our avifauna, even in the cause of science, cannot be compared with the ignorant and ruthless destruction by the keeper, or the diabolical injury done by village bird-nesting urchins. But in an era of amiable fads and crotchets the British zoologist must lay low, and do good by stealth. In the coming years our records will be more of species supposed to have been seen than of those actually handled and correctly identified. The recent apotheosis of the Sparrow is an illustration of what may occur.

'The Birds of Surrey' should find a place in most county homes, but we were a little surprised to find no reference in the bibliography to the late Alfred Smee's 'My Garden,' which refers to the parish of Beddington and the river Wandle, and contains an interesting list of birds found in that section of the county.

county has now had its ornithological fauna described, and it is singular that Cheshire has had to wait so long, though we read that "ornithology has found but few votaries among Cheshire naturalists"; and again, that, "compared with many other English counties, Cheshire has a remarkably poor avifauna." One hundred and ten species breed or bred until recent years within the county boundaries, but it is among the casual visitors rather than the residents that the deficiency is apparent.

The authors have, however, produced a volume which will not only be of value to all lovers of birds in Cheshire, but will afford interesting reading to that ever-increasing body, the intelligent students of British natural history. In fact, such books as these, which freely enter country houses, must do much to foster a love of nature in circles where more scientific zoology is taboo. Among