British Birds' Eggs and Nests. By Reverend Canon Atkinson, D.C.L.
(George Routledge and Sons.)—This is a new and revised edition of a book which appeared some thirty-five years ago ; and the work of revision, and of bringing the information up to date, has been very satisfactorily carried out, though a little matter in the introduction might well have been omitted as obsolete. No egg-collector now makes two holes in an egg, and in a footnote the author says that the best way of blowing eggs is to drill a hole in one side and use a blow-pipe. The book is written for boys, and the accounts of the various birds, their nests and eggs, are lively and fall of anecdote and observation, which make them pleasant reading. A boy who is making a collection of eggs (now, owing to increasing protection of birds' eggs by County Councils, no easy or lawful amusement) cannot have a better handbook. The classification in the fourth edition of Yarrell's book is followed ; and, considering the price (3s. 6d.), the coloured plates of eggs are very creditable and the printing excellent.
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