352 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Mr. Beebe's book is concerned, one can be forgiven for expressing surprise at its 

 title. And yet, long before one has read from cover to cover, one feels that the 

 author is right. There is peace, and a very real peace, in the jungle. 



The volume is an account of Mr. Beebe's rest-cure after a period of active 

 service with the Flying Corps, and is well printed and illustrated. The opening 

 chapters deal in an interesting way with the voyage out. It is no commonplace 

 account, for it describes some unusual achievements in the matter of handling the 

 captain of the ship and getting permission to do many curious things that no one 

 but an ardent and daring naturalist would conceive. 



But the charm of the book lies in the description of the jungle. The chapter 

 on the Hoatzin has already and but recently been published in Mr. Beebe's more 

 technical account of his work in British Guiana, and might well have been 

 omitted, for it is not quite in keeping with the rest of the book. The bird is, 

 however, so unique that its life-story will no doubt prove of interest to the general 

 reader for whom the book is intended. 



The harmless habits of the vampire ; the encounter with army ants ; the 

 catching alive of the venomous bushmaster ; the hunt by night with an Indian as 

 sole companion — are some of the delightful stories contained in the volume, which 

 bring home the truth of its title. After all these years of war, the book, well and 

 vividly written, is a delight to read, and leaves one with the happy impression that 

 somewhere, though it be in the wilds of British Guiana, there is Peace. 



Wm. Rowan. 



A Practical Handbook of British Birds. Editor: H. F. Witherby, F.Z.S., 

 M.B.O.U. Authors of the various sections: Ernst Hartert, Annie 

 C. Jackson, Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, C. Oldham, Norman F. Tice- 

 HURST, and the EDITOR. [Parts I and II. Pp. xvi + 128, with 5 plates 

 and numerous text figures.] (London: Witherby, 1919. To be published 

 in 18 parts at 4s. net per part.) 



It requires a bold and enterprising publisher to add a new book on British Birds 

 to the very large number already written on that subject. The book itself requires 

 not merely to differ from previous ones to arouse any interest, but to be an 

 improvement on them. With Mr. Witherby himself as editor and part-author, 

 he has seen to it that the book fulfils both these requirements. The book will be 

 an invaluable addition to the library of every British ornithologist. 



The book is based on A Hand-List of British Birds (Witherby), published in 

 1912 — all the authors of that volume contributing to the present one. In addition, 

 Miss Annie Jackson, whose research work on the plumages of ducks is well 

 known, contributes. Also Mr. C. Oldham, than whom there is no man in England 

 to-day more fitted to deal with the subject of the characters of birds in the field. 

 To the lover of living birds his paragraphs will be very welcome, and in them 

 alone the book has achieved something fresh. 



Based on the Hand-List (some of the paragraphs are mere reprints), the same 

 criticisms are applicable in regard to certain sub-species. The strict adherence to 

 the International rules of nomenclature is here for once observed, so that we are 

 worried with no Nomina conservanda, which involve a quite impossible attitude to 

 the progress of science. 



The " Key " to the orders, genera, etc., somewhat on the lines of some 

 American books, is a useful innovation. There is also a good glossary of bird 

 terms. Both of these will be much appreciated by beginners. 



