4i6 NATURAL SCIENCE. June, 



British Birds for the British Public. 



British Sea Birds. By Charles Dixon, with eight illustrations by Charles 

 Whymper. 8vo. Pp. ix., 295. London: Bliss, Sands, and Foster, 1896. 

 Price los. 6d. 



There is a fascination for most minds in the study of the graceful and 

 varied evolutions of the birds which haunt our coasts and estuary- 

 rivers. Not only do we find a pleasure in studying their migratory 

 movements. The annual return of the nesting-time suggests the 

 possibilities of fresh visits to islands and surf-beaten skerries, upon 

 which the beautifully mottled eggs ot the sea-fowl are to be viewed 

 amid their own characteristic environment. Mr. Dixon is the author 

 of several volumes of popular essays on bird-life. The latest addition 

 to their number is well written, and should be of service to those who 

 are but slightly aquainted with the subject. The facts here woven 

 together have no striking or unfamiliar features. We do meet with 

 one or two startling statements, it is true, such as that the smew is to 

 be seen, presumably in British waters, in flocks, consisting "of thirty 

 or forty individuals." If Mr. Dixon had told us that this observation 

 related to the river-reaches of Northern China, we could have accepted 

 his statement without difficulty. As a matter of fact, we have never 

 met with any large flocks of smews in Britain, though we have spent 

 hours in watching the manoeuvres of single individuals. Small flocks 

 do appear in winter on certain Norfolk waters ; but to speak of parties 

 of "thirty or forty" birds visiting the British Isles, appears to be 

 decidedly inaccurate. Many of Mr. Dixon's observations refer to the 

 coast of Devonshire ; if he had consulted the notes of the best of 

 modern Devonian ornithologists, he would not have circulated the 

 statement that the great northern diver feeds almost exclusively on 

 fishes. As a matter of fact, it subsists largely on Crustacea. But 

 these and similar blemishes do not detract seriously from the value of 

 a book, which can, in any case, convey nothing new to the well-read 

 ornithologist. 



On the other hand, that large section of the public which is 

 guiltless of any aquaintance with avian matters will find some pleasant 

 and easy reading in Mr, Dixon's compilation. He is not without 

 some personal knowledge of his subject, and has the knack of making 

 the most of any observations recorded in his field-journals. Moreover, 

 he writes in concise language, and scouts the long-winded sentences 

 in which more learned naturalists are apt to clothe their thoughts. 

 We object to the coining of new and unauthorised phrases. Mr. Dixon's 

 adjective avine is not less objectionable to our judgment than Mr. Harvie 

 Brown's new synonym of vagratovy for migratory. But this has nothing 

 to do with the scope of the pretty volume on our table. Perhaps its 

 most useful feature lies in its treating of almost every species of bird 

 that is to be met with near our seas. Mr. Dixon descants in brief but 

 readable terms on the habits of all manner of ducks and wild-fowl. Not 

 only so, but he introduces us to the haunts of the chough, the rock pipit, 

 and other land birds. The usefulness of the volume would have been 

 increased if Mr. Dixon had taken the trouble to tell the uninitiated how 

 to distinguish between the different plumages of the ruff, or by what 

 means to recognise the white-billed diver in its winter dress. Many 

 similar points will occur to the professed ornithologist. But the 

 author avowedly treats of a picturesque subject in a superficial 

 manner, and it would be unfair to treat this volume as aspiring to 

 claim a place among scientific works. It worthily fills the role of a 

 popular educator in the most obvious details regarding the birds of 



