Bird Notes and News 



119 



of mystery in his movements captivated his 

 hearers. . , , Although Hudson himself might 

 have regarded these letters to me as of little 

 importance, they do in fact convey most 

 characteristic glimpses of himself and of 

 his astonishing vigour and vitality of spirit 

 in his last twenty years. They illustrate in 

 special his wide literary outlook. I print 

 them believing that Hudson, the man and the 

 writer will appear to posterity a far bigger 

 figure than he appears to men to-day." 



" Birds and Their Young." By 

 T. A. Coward, M.Sc, etc. With twelve 

 coloured plates and other illustrations 

 by Roland Green, F.Z.S. (Gay & 

 Hancock, 10s. 6d. net). — Eminently suited 

 by its attractive appearance no less than 

 by its contents for a gift -book, but far 

 removed from the meretricious puerility 

 of much " gift-book " literature, the 

 third of Messrs. Gay & Hancock's bird 

 annuals is perhaps the most fascinating 

 of the three they have now issued. Mr. 

 Pycraft's " Birds in Flight," issued last 

 Christmas, was indeed an admirable 

 exposition of that subject, but fascinating 

 as is the study of wings, there is no 

 doubt that the story of the young bird 

 has a peculiar charm for both simple 

 and learned. Needless to say, so accom- 

 plished an ornithologist as Mr. Coward 

 has not produced a nursery book with 

 tales of the imaginary experiences of 

 baby Robins or infant Rooks ; but 

 intelligent boys and girls will be delighted 

 to learn from it answers to many of the 

 questions which occur, say to a Bird 

 and Tree Cadet, in watching a nest and 

 the development of nestUngs. Their 

 elders will enjoy and benefit by Mr. 

 Coward's knowledge no less. There are 

 chapters, for instance, on " The Helpless 

 Group " and " The Precocious Group " 

 and " The Behaviour of the Young," 

 telling of the young Moorhen which 

 scrambles over the edge of its nest into 

 the water, and the young Grebe which 

 climbs up on to its mother's back, and 

 the little Plover which scuttles into 

 safety, as contrasting with the skinny 

 and blind baby Finch. There are also 

 chapters on " Behaviour of the Young," 

 " Behaviour of the Parents," " Food 



and Feeding," " Lessons and Language," 

 and so on to growth and adolescence, 

 and right down to maturity, courtship, 

 and song. 



The illustrations will further advance 

 the high reputation of Mr. Roland Green. 

 The page of young birds, the Moorhen, 

 and the Shelduck, are perhaps especially 

 satisfactory in reproduction ; but the 

 line work is even more attractive than 

 the coloured plates. One of these pen- 

 and-ink plates is reproduced by permis- 

 sion, as frontispiece to the present number 

 of Bird Notes and News, and serves 

 well to represent both this book and 

 Mr. Hudson's history of our lost and 

 rare species. 



" The Natural History of South Africa : 

 Birds." By F. W. Fitzsimons. Two vols. 

 (Longmans, Green & Co., 12s. 6d. each.) — Of 

 these two volumes, dealing, the one with the 

 economic side of bird life, and the other with 

 the various families and species of South 

 Africa, a notice must be deferred until spring, 

 as they are too important a contribution to 

 bird literature to be cursorily dealt with in a 

 brief space. 



" A Little Bird Told Me." By W. G. 

 Mathews. With 12 illustrations by K. L. 

 Beard. (Gay & Hancock, 2s. 6d. net.). — 

 This is a pretty little book in which Mr. and 

 Mrs. Robin and Mr. and Mrs. Crow, and 

 other humanised birds, talk after the fashion 

 set by the immortal Mrs. Trimmer. The 

 sketches are sympathetic in feeling, if they 

 do not advance knowledge to any extent, and 

 the illustrations are nicely drawn. 



" Natureland." — The January issue of this 

 illustrated Magazine contains several interesting 

 papers on Birds. Mr. G. J. Scholey relates 

 the vagaries of an individual Cuckoo ; Mr. 

 Nicholson deals with the Crested Lark, rare 

 in Britain though common in France ; Mr. 

 Patterson describes the habits of the pretty, 

 shore-loving Turnstone ; and Mr. Horsbrugh 

 relates the habits of Birds of Paradise, giving 

 a photograph of their haunts in the depths 

 of the jungle. The occurrence of a pair of 

 Golden Oriole on Mickleham Downs during 

 1922 is noticed. The illustrated prospectus of 

 Natureland may be obtained of the Editor, 

 Dr. Graham Renshaw, Bridge House, Sale, 

 Manchester. 



