many years he bought a number of these birds in the London market, to which they were brought from Holland. The young birds were placed together in large boxcages in quiet spots in the Lilford grounds with an ample supply of food, and the doors were left open. Since this was done a number of broods have been reared and reported in the neighbourhood. Mr A. Thorburn made a sketch of an amusing scene he saw near the aviaries—a little owl in the limb of an oak tree mobbed by robins, a wren, great tits, blue tits, marsh tits, chaffinches, and a black bird!

Many of us would like to see the beautiful golden oriole in our country, where from time to time it has been seen, and has even nested, but only to be ruthlessly destroyed. Lord Lilford considers that, if permitted, it might be as common with us as in many parts of the Continent. He thinks that some districts in Northamptonshire especially are well suited to the habits of this beautiful bird, and he urges any of his country-. men who may have the good fortune to see an oriole, to watch its habits closely, and to give it every possible protection with the view to its becoming a regular summer resident.

During the month of August our author spends most of his time on a river-barge, from which he has noted and recorded in these volumes much that is interesting. Sedge-warblers and reed-warblers abound on the banks of the stream, and their notes are heard throughout the summer night. The days spent thus are full of interest as he watches "the water-hens leading their downy young through the mazes of water - weeds, the young broods of wild ducks bustling out of some reedy nook at the approach of the boat, the

kingfisher watching his prey from an overhanging spray or darting past like a meteor, the heron standing motionless on a favourite shallow, the incessant song and rapid motions of the reed- and sedge - warblers, and the infinite variety of insects and of plants." All these, he writes, "constitute a charm that I have seldom experienced elsewhere."

The beautiful little goldencrested wren, now so uncommon in many of our counties, breeds freely in the neighbourhood.

"In very cold weather I have found a family of perhaps a dozen of these little birds clustered together for warmth beneath the snow-laden bough of an old yew-tree, to the under surface of which the uppermost birds were clinging by their feet, whilst, as far as I could see, the others clung to them and to one another so as to form a closely packed, feathery ball."

Birds undoubtedly know where the owners of houses are hospitably disposed towards them, and that they can congregate and build about these unmolested. During the winter months nuthatches were seen from daybreak to midday opening and feeding on beechmast about an interstice in the porch over the front entrance to the hall.

The brambling is a bird that is becoming much rarer than it was in many districts, but upon the old beeches in Northamptonshire it may be seen abundantly. Its breeding-places are, of course, in more northern forests.

In reference to the supposed poisoning of the young of birds by their parents if the nest has been tampered with-which is an accepted fact, the "Son of the Marshes " tells us, with the Surrey and Sussex country-folk-Lord Lilford says that there is a current belief in

his county that if a brood of young bullfinches is taken and placed out of doors in a cage, the parent birds will poison all but one of their progeny. This, however, he thinks, "requires confirmation."

The crossbill has always been a favourite of ours. Its quaint attitude and humorous disposition make it a very interesting bird in captivity. In Thuringia each peasant household likes to have a pair of these birds. If the mandibles cross each other at the end of the bill from left to right, the presence of the bird is said to counteract the diseases of the males of the family; if from right to left, those of the females. Lord Lilford mentions one that he received out of a flock of about a hundred which had been haunting the neighbour hood of Harleston Firs for some weeks. In fir- woods, however, these birds never breed.

As to game birds, black grouse is not a resident species in the county. The Chinese ring-necked species of pheasant has been successfully introduced at Lilford also the green pheasant of Japan (Phasianus versicolor); and both these species interbreed freely with the original stock as well as with each other, the hybrids being very beautiful birds, finer and heavier than their parents. The bar-tailed pheasant (Phasianus reevesii) Lord Lilford has also found a hardy bird, easily reared and good to eat; yet it is of a wild, wary nature, more given to roaming than the other species, and he is inclined to think that it would be better adapted to Scotland and Wales than to the Midlandsfrom a sporting point of view.

Of late years partridges have been more plentiful than ever. He has known them nest in a flower-bed near the house, and whilst the young were in process

of hatching the male bird was in a constant state of anxiety, running to and fro on the stone balustrade that surrounds the flowergarden, and calling loudly all through the day.

Quails are becoming every year more scarce in Northamptonshire, as in most parts of England and Ireland. The higher cultivation of our land is doing away with those rougher, broken portions in which the quail has its favourite habitat. The water-rail is scarce, but the land-rail or corncrake is a very common summer visitor to Northamptonshire. In Spain, Lord Lilford says, one or two of the latter species are supposed to accompany each great flight of quails on their vernal migration, acting as pilots to them, so that the landrail is there called the "guide of the quails," and in France "king of quails."

We specially commend to our readers all that the writer has to say about the great and the little bustard, as he knows more about these birds practically than does any other ornithologist in our country. That they have been "done to death" in Northamptonshire is a fact much to be deplored. A solitary bird is still recorded at long intervals, but it is no sooner seen than it is shot.

Coots are found in most of the larger ponds or lakes of the county. Being anxious to encourage them on the river in his estate, Lord Lilford procured fresh eggs from Norfolk and put them into the nest of water-hens; but he fears these were disturbed or depredated by the numerous pleasure-boats which now infest the district, to the destruction of many a wild creature that ought to be protected.

The second volume is devoted to the consideration of the wild

and was picked up alive, but with a broken leg. I mention this, as I had occupied this house for several months in the previous year, and because the owner, aware of my ornithological tastes, was good enough to send me the skin of this erratic puffin, which is now stuffed at Lilford."

Or again :

"A fork-tailed petrel was picked up three days ago about three miles from this and sent to me yesterday. It is remarkable that this species (Procellaria leucorrhoa), which is a much scarcer bird in British waters than its close ally, the storm petrel, or Mother Carey's chicken, should occur so much more frequently inland than the latter (Procellaria pelagica)."

We would fain quote much more from these interesting volumes, would space permit it. Few, however, who are students of birdlife are likely to lose the opportunity of reading them in their entirety. In all Lord Lilford's writings there is, apart from the charm that an agreeable personality

creeping in here and there exer cises on his readers, an evident truthfulness and straightforwardness which impresses and convinces. He describes just what he has himself seen, having always verified all he discourses on. These are the writings we want, rather than the compilations that have been, of late especially, only too

common.

Although Lord Lilford has been of late years, as he tells us, debarred by infirmity from physical exertions in his quiet retreat near Oundle, he takes an active part in the world's progress. Being desirous of learning more about the avifauna of some portions of Arctic Europe, he chartered and fitted out the steam-yacht Saxon of Birkenhead, his nephew, Mr Mervyn Powys, and Mr Aubyn Trevor Battye, taking charge of the expedition. One result of this has been that interesting work by the latter, 'Ice-bound on Kolguev.'