1924. Reviews. 41 



dardaniis which used to be known as P. cenea and tnerope according to 

 locality. Mention is also made of the seasonal dimorphism of Precis 

 sesannis and Naialensis, the latter formerly known as octavia. 



We would strongly recommend the book to all lovers of nature. 



:m s. d. w. 

 British Birds. 



A Practical Handbook of British Birds. Edited by H. F. Witherby, 



M.B.E., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., Editor of British Birds. Authors of various 



sections : Ernst Hartert, ph.d., m.b.o.u. ; Annie C. Jackson, 



H.M.B.o.u. ; Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, m.a., m.b.o.u., h.f.a.o.u. ; 



C. Oldham, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. ; N. F. Ticehurst, o.b.e., m.a., f.r.c.s., 



m.b.o.u., and the Editor. Illustrated with Coloured Plates and 



numerous Text Figures. In Eighteen Parts. London : H. F. & G. 



Witherby. Parts i to 8, 4s. per Part; Parts 9 to 18, 4s. 6d. per 



Part. 



The completion of the " Practical Handbook " on which Air. Witherby 



and his collaborators have been engaged for the past five years is an event 



of high importance to the ornithological public, and one that deserves 



their warm appreciation. The Handbook differs from other works on 



British ornithology in the elaborate descriptions given in its pages to all 



subspecific forms, and also in the minute care taken to describe fully the 



successive changes of plumage undergone by each species from the nestling 



to the adult stage. It is under this latter heading that the merits of the 



work will be most perceptible to the ordinary field student, who need 



not greatly concern himself over the points of difference between the 



thinly -divided " splits." 



The concluding part of the Handbook contains, as was promised, a 

 full description of the Irish Red Grouse, lately severed from the British 

 species, and apparently found only in this country, and in the Outer 

 Hebrides. The difference between the two forms is of course very slight, 

 and seems, so far as the colouring is concerned, to be limited to the winter 

 plumage, and more noticeable (perhaps more constant) on the under than 

 on the upper surface ; but from Mr. Witherby 's measurements of 23 

 Irish examples it would appear that the British bird is, on the average, 

 the larger of the two. 



The fulness and excellence of the descriptions forbid us to complain 

 of the small amount of space devoted to habits and notes — a subject that 

 in any case can never be exhaustively treated, and on which many other 

 handbooks are available. But what is said on it, under the head " Field 

 Characters," by Mr. C. Oldham, contains an amount of vivid and accurate 

 information that is extraordinary for the space in which it is compressed — 

 generally from 6 to 10 lines. 



Many of the illustrations scattered through the book — especially 

 those showing nestlmgs and parts of birds — are certain to prove extremely 

 helpful. The Irish Dipper, like the Irish Coal Titmouse, strikes us as 

 having been taken from a somewhat abnormally coloured specimen. 



C. B. M. 



