""Vos'-J ^^^^'^^^^ 207 



[" Birds of Britain." By J- Lewis Bonhote, M.A., F.L.S., &c. With lOO illus- 

 trations in colour selected by H. E. Dresser from his " Birds of Europe." London, 

 Adam and Charles M^ck. 1 907.] 



Mr. Bonhote has written a bulky book of a distinctly popular 

 character on the " Birds of Britain." When an author shall have 

 arisen to write a similar work on the " Birds of Australia," then 

 the masses will begin to be enlightened and take an interest in 

 the ornithology of their country, and the birds themselves be 

 saved. 



In addition to the descriptions and plates of the birds them- 

 selves, Mr. Bonhote's notes are extremely valuable and 

 interesting because " taken at first hand straight from Nature." 

 The book includes every species which has been known to occur 

 in Great Britain, and in this connection it is interesting to 

 note amongst the " casuals " such Australian birds as the 

 Black-browed Albatross {^Diomedea nielauophiys), Allied Petrel 

 {Puffinis assimilis), Sombre Petrel ( P.grisais) \ the tiny ocean 

 wanderer, the Yellow-webbed Storm-Petrel {Oceanites oceanicus), 

 &c., &c. 



The coloured plates are excellent examples of " three-colour " 

 work, and are evidently reproductions from original drawings 

 by the far-famed J. G. Keulemans. In the beautiful plate of 

 the Song-Thrush (Tnrdiis musicus) — a bird which has been 

 acclimatised for years in Victoria — it will be observed that the 

 species has grown lighter coloured at the antipodes than the 

 rich dark European example figured in the book. 



South Australian Ornithological Association. 



The bi-monthly meeting of the South Australian Ornithological Association 

 was held at Dr. A. M. Morgan's on Thursday evening, 19th December, 1907, 

 Dr. Morgan presiding over a good attendance. The hon. secretary reported 

 that the " Powder Magazine Reserve " at Dry Creek had now been pro- 

 claimed a " Bird-Protection Reserve "' under the Birds Protecfio/i Aci of 1900, 

 as recommended by the Association, and that the Commissioner of Crown 

 Lands had also acceded to the request of the Association in placing the 

 Kestrel {Cerchncis cenchroides) upon the totally protected list. Mr. M. 

 Symonds Clark reported having been instrumental in having the Emu totally 

 protected in South Australia. The destruction of the Black Swan was 

 deplored, and several members bore testimony to the manner in which half- 

 castes and blacks destroy the eggs of this bird, in taking them by hundreds 

 during the breeding season. As a stay on the wholesale use of firearms by 

 small boys, who roam about seeking what they may shoot, it was thought 

 that the District Councils and municipal bodies should strictly enforce the 

 Firearins Act in reference to pea-rifles, and make the owners take out 

 licences. The hon. secretary reported having, with Captain S. A. White, 

 represented the Association and the State at the Seventh Congress of the 

 Australasian Ornithologists' Union, which was held in New South Wales 

 and Queensland last October and November, when useful business had been 

 transacted, including the opening of a debate upon the unification of the 

 game laws and bird protection laws throughout the Connnonwcalth, and that 

 it had been resolved to invite official representatives from each to attend the 

 next Congress, to be held in Melbourne at the latter end of 1908. The hon. 



