538 



REVIEW. 

 BIRDS OF THE PLAINS. 



BY 



Douglas Dewar. 



Considering that so large a majority of the Members of the B, N. H. S. are 

 ■what may be described as " casual " naturalists compared with those who ]ay 

 claim to being scientific naturalists, any book that is intended to popularize the 

 study of birds and other creatures around our lives in India is naturally of 

 particular interest to us and especially when it is from the pen of one of our 

 own members. The author of this book has latterly been a regular contributor 

 to our columns and his present addition to the popular literature on Indian 

 birds is practically a continuation of his previous volume that appeared under 

 the somewhat wend title of " Bombay Ducks ", In his preface he confines 

 himself to an expression of his views about titles of books generally, and to 

 those of his own productions in particular, as his plumage would appear to 

 have been a trifle ruffled by the comments which the title he selected for his 

 previous book met with from most quarters. The title of the present volume 

 is not quite so garish as the earlier one but can hardly be considered a great 

 inspiration. 



However it is the contents and not the title of the book that chiefly con- 

 cern us and there is no denying there is a large amount of interesting writing 

 in its pages on the author's and his friends' observances of the traits and 

 characters of a number of familiar Indian birds. 



Besides the interesting and instructive portions there is at times a large 

 amount of padding which takes a good deal of wading through and which 

 savoui's of the " penny a line " style of many of the articles that 

 appear in Indian " Dailies." The book is evidently intended to appeal 

 to the general public that takes a certain interest in the birds to be seen 

 about the compounds of the bungalows and in the aviaries on the verandahs. 

 Where cage-birds form the subject of the articles the notes are mainly 

 confined, like the bird themselves, to the aviary although in many cases thej- 

 relate to species that are common enough about most stations in the plains 

 of India. It is of course easier to observs the habits of such birds from a 

 long chair on a verandah than by crawling round hedgerows and bushes 

 in the open. In the same way it is evidently from Zoological Gardens that 

 the author has become familiar with other birds of which he writes. Wo 

 cannot see what possible interest it can be to the general reader to be 

 informed that " There is at present a Jackdaw in confinement in the Lahore 

 * Zoo.' " It may have interested a reader when it met his eye as he glanced 

 over the morning paper at that station, but should surel}', along with various 

 other similar irrelevancies, have made the acquaintance of the editorial 

 blue pencil when the article was intended for inclusion in such a book as 

 this. 



