25 MARCH 1876, Page 24

Ardenmohr Among the Hills. By Samuel Abbott. (Chapman and Hall.)—This

is "a record of scenery and sport in the Highlands of Scotland." The scenery is described with a certain power of writing, which is scarcely helped, we are bound in honesty to say, by the illus- trations, "sketched, etched, Ike., by the author." The stories of salmon- fishing are told by one who has, we should say, a genuine passion for the sport, and no little knowledge of it. Other kinds of sport are not made very prominent. The book is interspersed with dialogues, which are managed with some skill. Some very crude opinions are, it is true, maintained, but, then, in conversation very crude opinions are, as a matter of fact, put forth ; and the writer is doubtless trno to nature, while he is not to be held responsible for the utterances of others. Still, it would be well for a gentleman who somehow leaves an impression that be is inclined to snub the "Classics " to be a little more careful about his classics than to write, "ConSteor mea culpa " and " Soaves tranquillas in undis." It is rather strange, by the way, that Mr. Abbott seems never to have seen the imitation kite effective in making birds lie. In England certainly, late in the season, when there is little or no cover on the ground, it is the only way of getting near the partridges.