160 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



BOOK NOTICE. 



Birds of eastern Canada, Memoir 104, No. 3, 

 Biological Series, Geological Survey of Canada, by 

 P. A. Taverner: King's Printer, Ottawa, 1919. 

 297 pages, octavo with 50 colored plates, illustrat- 

 ing 105 species and varieties; price 50 cents. 



The introduction to this work is unusually attrac- 

 tive, and will be found both interesting and instruc- 

 tive to the student of Birds. It deals with classifi- 

 cation, distribution and other problems and even 

 has a chapter on Attracting Birds about the home. 



The index appears very complete and comprises 

 English, French, and scientific names. 



A most useful feature, that might well be copied 

 in similar works is the description of the different 

 classes, orders and families. Too often the young 

 student is left to surmise as to the scope of these 

 divisions of the science. 



One of the most attractive features of the book 

 IS the inclusion of the section "Field Marks." No 

 other part of the work will receive as earnest study 

 from puzzled nature students, to whom unidentified 

 birds are a frequent experience. After one has 

 pursued birds long enough to have identified 75 

 species, he is apt to make a good guess at the iden- 

 tity of any unknown, and needs only confirmation 

 from a book to change surmise into certainty, and 

 the section under consideration provides easy refer- 

 ence for such a puzzle. 



The key is good, but if a key is worth providing, 

 it is worth while to carry it out to the limit, and not 

 abandon the seeker after knowledge at the broad 

 heading "Sparrows," and leave him to grope through 

 34 different species, when a color key could easily 

 have been given on a few added pages. 



The colored plates, by Frank Hennessey, are on 

 the whole, very creditable. Indeed, the colors are 

 exceptionally true to nature. It would seem to the 

 writer that this book illustrates well a missed oppor- 

 tunity. To certain of a large circle of readers, it is 

 regrettable that the contents of the book are limited 

 so nearly to bare outlines. It has come out as very 

 little more than a book of reference, wasting a splen- 

 did opportunity to change casual readers into bird- 

 loving enthusiasts. There are so many interesting 

 details of bird life that could be added to such work, 

 and the author is so competent to add them, that 



one is almost tempted to regret that the book was 

 sent out ill equipped for what might have been a 

 greater accomplishment. 



It happens to come within the scope of the review- 

 ers knowledge that the added touches, without 

 which the book makes comparatively uninteresting 

 reading, were actually providtd by the author, and 

 were eliminated by a mistaken editorial policy. The 

 reason, for the elimination is unknown, but could 

 hardly have been aught than either poor judgment 

 or economy. For the sake of the future, it is to 

 hoped that it was not the former, and if the reason 

 were economy, it was a most erroneous application 

 of the term. True economy lies in the production 

 of the greaest and best results at a reasonable cost. 

 In the case of a train from Toronto to Ottawa, 

 there might be an economy of coal in stopping the 

 train 10 miles before its destination, but no one 

 would be so deluded as to claim real economy in 

 throwing the passengers on their own resources for 

 the last ten miles, when the equipment was ready 

 to complete the journey. The present instance is a 

 parallel. The names of the birds have been pub- 

 lished, descriptions added, field marks, nesting, dis- 

 tribution, all of the skeleton on which to hang vital 

 and interesting facts, clothed in language that would 

 attract the casual reader and open many eyes to the 

 charm that lies in this as in every other department 

 of natural science, but the opportunity has been 

 lost through no fault of the author. 



It is so unusual, in such a work to omit all de- 

 tails of the capture of rarities, that the reviewer can- 

 not become sufficiently accustomed to the change 

 to consid:r it other than an error of omission. Take 

 for instance. Blue-wing Warbler. "Though taken 

 only once in Canada," how much better to have 

 said, "One taken at Point Pelee on September 2nd, 

 1906, is the only Canadian specimen." The infor- 

 mation might just as well have been given definitely 

 while the writer was at it, and the book would have 

 been worth just that much more as a reference. 



Perhaps one may be judged meticulous for such 

 fault finding, but the duty of the reviewer is to state 

 the case as he sees it, in the hope that his opinion 

 may have a favorable influence in the future. 



W. E. Saunders, London, Ont. 



