CORRESPONDENCE. 15 the poor things, bleeding and mutilated, thrown into the river with a kick and a flourish of adjectives. Fishermen who behave with such wanton cruelty justify the diatribes which those who are not anglers often heap upon the gentle craft." CORRESPONDENCE. A Hawk and a Heron--Psha! TO THE EDITOR OF "NATURE NOTES," THE SELBORNE SOCIETY'S MAGAZINE. SIR, -I extract the following letter from that excellent provincial journal, the Western Morning News, as an illustration of the way in which the Selborne Society is regarded by a gentleman who is not, we trust, a member of the famed Devon and Cornwall Philosophical Society, whose Transactions form such a valuable addition to our scientific literature :— 66 "THE SHOOTING OF RARE BIRDS. SIR,-I very much fear that in the eyes of the sentimentalists who weep over the capture of rare birds and beasts and fishes, I shall appear as ‘indeed little better than one of the wicked.' Since I wrote you last on this subject I have compassed the death of a heron, and have eaten it. I have found its flesh dark, better in taste than pheasant or partridge, on a level with woodcock and snipe, but inferior to grouse or harvest curlew; but I judged from an old receipt-book that it was a dry bird, and I had it cooked with one of the old and somewhat expensive wine sauces. This sauce will probably prove the most effectual means of preserving the bird. I have also compassed the death of a common buzzard, a hawk perfectly well known (as indeed its name imports) in England, and which breeds freely in Cornwall as far west as the cliffs of Tintagel, but of which a specimen has not been procured in this neighbourhood for the last thirty years. "Yours truly, "Penzance, 15th December, 1889." "THOS. CORNISH. What useful purpose has Mr. Cornish achieved by eating a stuffy heron and stuffing a common buzzard? Dyspepsia, no doubt, produced by not having previously buried the heron in wood ashes, has made him ready to sneer at these who have long known "a hawk from a hernshaw " and who without "sentimentality," but with honest sentiment, think that science gains more by the preservation of a vermin-killing bird such as the buzzard, which has not appeared in the neighbourhood of Penzance for the last thirty years, than by compassing its death. As there is an admirable museum in Penzance, surely this rare visitant to the neighbourhood was not wanted for scientific purposes? But could it have been with a view to self-preservation in the cause of science that this ardent naturalist stuffed himself with heron and "old expensive wine sauce"? I believe that any good taxidermist would assure him that to recommend this method of stuffing, even for that common and valueless bird, Anser ineptus, was all stuff." Yours truly, 66 CORNUBIENSIS INDIGNANS. The Preservation of Sudbrook Park. 66 TO THE EDITOR OF NATURE NOTES," THE SELBORNE SOCIETY'S MAGAZINE. SIR,-Sudbrook Park is a piece of Crown land, beautifully situated in the Vale of Petersham, immediately adjoining Richmond Park. The Lower Thames Valley Branch of the Selborne Society, on finding that this spot was likely to be built over, called a meeting, which was held at the "Star and Garter" Hotel, and a General Committee was appointed to watch over the matter, and to organise a deputation to wait upon the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to protest against their vandalism, and to advocate that Sudbrook Park should be thrown open to the public and added on to Petersham Park, to which the school children of London, in the summer time, come in shoals, and are allowed to play games and enjoy the beauties of nature. His Grace the Duke of Fife, who has a seat in the neighbourhood, and other noblemen and gentlemen, have joined the Committee; the Kyrle Society, the Commons Preservation Society, and the Metropolitan Gardens Association, have seconded the efforts being made to preserve the park from destruction, and it is hoped that our united efforts will meet with success and will show to other neighbourhoods the value of having an organisation like a branch of the Selborne Society ready at hand to watch over their interests. T. F. WAKEField, Hon. Sec. to Committee. P.S.-We feel that should Sudbrook Park be built over, we should soon lose many of the wild birds which are now to be met with in Richmond Park, close at hand. We have there herons, hawks, night-jars, owls, woodpeckers, wild water fowl, kingfishers, woodpigeons, rooks, nuthatches, &c., &c. On the same subject the following weighty and interesting letter has been received by the Editor of the Richmond and Twickenham Times, from Sir Frederick Leighton, P. R.A., one of the vice-presidents of the Lower Thames Valley Branch of the Selborne Society : "DEAR MR. KING,-I have to acknowledge your letter of the 6th instant, informing me that the Lower Thames Valley Branch of the Selborne Society is energetically at work to save Sudbrook Park from the encroachments of the builder. I earnestly wish you success in so good a cause, and one of importance to so many. Your lovely park, with its wide wild spaces, and its sweet fresh air, is-and is daily more and more becoming-a priceless possession to the inhabitants of this black and monstrous metropolis; and it is so in its most frequented part perhaps in great measure from the fact that Sudbrook Park shields it as a bulwark against smoke and bricks and mortar. I sincerely trust it may never lose that protection, for I feel that the breaking down of this barrier would have most mischievous results in many ways. I think public opinion will be warmly in your favour, and will strengthen your hands. Certainly my very best wishes follow you in your present endeavours. "I am, yours faithfully, "2, Holland Park Road, Kensington, W., "8th January, 1890." "FRED. LEIGHTON. OFFICIAL NOTICES. Ar a meeting of the Central Council, held on Wednesday, the 8th instant, Mr. J. L. Otter, the honorary treasurer, presented a statement of accounts, showing that, after all liabilities to the 31st of December, 1889, had been met, there was a small balance in hand. It was estimated that when the accounts were fully made up before the general meeting on the 1st of May, there would be a considerable surplus. SOME reports of meetings and several other communications sent in have been unavoidably postponed through lack of space. Names of new members and subscriptions paid will appear in this column in future numbers. COMMUNICATIONS on the general business of the Society ought to be sent to the Secretary of the Selborne Society, 9, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C.; Editorial communications to the Rev. PERCY MYLES, I, Argyle Road Ealing, W. To Nature Lovers, Photographers and Artists. DR. EMERSON'S WORKS. Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads. By Dr. EMERSON and T. F. GOODALL. Illustrated with 40 Plates from Nature. Price, Edition de Luxe, Limited to 100 Copies, £10 10s. Ordinary Edition, Limited to 750 Copies, £7 75. This Work contains a Valuable Essay on Landscape, Art and Photography by the Landscape Painter, T. F. GOODALL. (SAMPSON LOW AND CO., London.) Pictures of East Anglian Life. By P. H. EMERSON. Illustrated with 32 Photogravures and 15 small blocks. Price, Edition de Luxe, Limited to 75 Numbered Copies, £7 7s. each. Ordinary Edition, Limited to 500 Copies, £5 5s. (SAMPSON LOW AND CO., London.) 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May be seen in all the best West End Clubs, all London Free Libraries, and the largest in the Provinces; also at Brighton (Aquarium), Ostend (Kursaal), Paris (Galignani's and Grand Hotel), &c. Careful Editing, Good Paper, Clear Type; One Penny. A capital Medium for Book, Art, and Theatrical Advertisements; 4/per Inch deep per Insertion; Cash Net. Chief Office-Richmond, Surrey. E. KING, Proprietor. To be completed in about 20 Monthly Parts, each containing 20 Illustrations, price 1' AN Illustrated Manual of British Birds, BY HOWARD SAUNDERS, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Editor of the Third and Fourth Volumes of "Yarrell's History of British Birds," 4th Edition. "Excellent alike in style and matter, it ought to be in the hands of every lover of birds, and should take the place of several inferior books on the subject now before the public."-Annals of Natural History. "The book will do more to popularise ornithology and to inculcate a true knowledge of the subject than any book that has issued from the press."-The Queen. In one Volume, containing 1780 Coloured Illustrations painted by hand, £3 3s. BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. Illustrated by SOWERBY. Described by JOHNSON. The Flowering Plants, Ferns and Club-Mosses found growing in the British Islands are all figured, and their habits, heights, habitats and times of flowering are given. "One of the prettiest natural history volumes now on sale."-Gardeners' Chronicle. THE NATURAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE, In the County of Southampton. By the late Rev. GILBERT WHITE, formerly Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. Edited by THOMAS BELL, F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c. Professor of Zoology in King's College, London. With Steel Plate and other Illustrations. 2 vols, demy 8vo, £1 11s. 6d. A few copies have been printed on larger paper, royal 8vo, with the plates on India paper, £3 3s. "Enough has been said to show the general excellence of the entire work, and even those who are already familiar with the first portion will, we are sure, enjoy its reperusal, if only for the sake of the notes, whilst the second volume is composed, as we have said, of matter almost entirely new."- Athenæum. 8vo, cloth, with numerous Illustrations by the Author, 12s. 6d. BIRD-LIFE of the BORDERS. RECORDS OF WILD SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY ON MOORLAND AND SEA. BY ABEL CHAPMAN. "Mr. Chapman is a naturalist of GILBERT WHITE'S school in the keenness and accuracy of his perceptions. He sees things for himself and takes nothing upon trust."-Saturday Review. "When the Southern reader lays down this book he feels quite at home among the curlew, the golden plover, and the grouse on the moors; he feels that he has done the next best thing to a personal endeavour to get a sight of those long lines of wild geese on the bleak Northumbrian coast."-Spectator. GURNEY & JACKSON, I, Paternoster Row. 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