Bird Notes and News 



81 



Books Received. 



In a Cheshire Garden. By the Rev. G. 

 Egerton-Warburton. (London : Sherratt 

 & Hughes, 3s. 6d.) 



The garden is that of Warburton Rectory, 

 and Warburton is on the border of Lancashire, 

 a village still and country still, but threatened 

 not only by the tentacles of big towns 

 but by local " works." Already the bed 

 of the Mersey which ran through the village 

 has come, through stages of marsh and 

 mud, to dry ground, thanks to the Ship 

 Canal ; and, in a few years, says Mr. 

 Egerton-Warburton, " perhaps the whole 

 place may be reduced to the desolation 

 of another Widnes. Then, when it has 

 become a rare thing to find even a blade 

 of grass on the dreary black waste or to see 

 any bird but a grimy sparrow, a record of 

 what was once here may be strange reading." 

 Absit omen ! In any case it was a happy 

 idea to set down these Nature notes from 

 garden and parish, and no such melancholy 

 prospect is needed to give them charm and 

 value. Birds have the largest share in 

 the records ; mammals and plants are not 

 neglected ; and scarcely a page but gives 

 pleasant matter for thought and speculation. 

 During the gradual disappearance of the 

 river, for example, the conversion of the 

 Water-hens into waders was noted. They 

 took to perching in the trees ; one built at 

 a height of 4 feet 6 inches from the ground, 

 200 yards from water. Presumably they 

 have departed now ; in their place the 

 Canal has brought the Gulls. Kingfishers, 

 too, haunted the river until the river ceased 

 to be ; and it would be interesting to know 

 what the effect has been on the Sedge- 

 Warblers, which the writer mentions as 

 singing incessantty from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m., 

 even in July, after the midsummer silence. 

 Mr. Warburton' s descriptions of his many 

 inventions for food-stands that should baffle 

 house-sparrows will entertain those who 

 have tried similar experiments. Some capital 

 dog and cat stories are included in the 

 volume, and botanists will find a curious 

 list of strange plants which have appeared 

 in the Cheshire garden in the same mysterious 



way of those which formed the " wild 

 garden " of the Strand. The Rector of 

 Warburton explains that his book is com- 

 piled mainly from a nature-diary ; and 

 though it has been published some time, 

 little effort seems to have been made to 

 introduce it to readers outside Cheshire. 

 The loss has been that of many a nature- 

 lover who would gladly have it on the 

 bookshelf that holds his Gilbert White ; 

 but, fortunately, it is a loss that can be 

 repaired. 



Alaskan Bird-Life. Edited by Ernest 

 Ingersoll. (New York : National Associa- 

 tion of Audubon Societies.) 



In his preface, Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, 

 Secretary of the Association, explains that 

 this volume has been prepared for free 

 distribution among the people of Alaska 

 in order to spread abroad a knowledge of 

 bird-life and to teach the public, especially 

 the growing generation, the very important 

 place which the birds of this, or of any 

 country, occupy in the list of national 

 assets. Alaska has a noteworthy bird- 

 population, large and varied ; its coasts 

 abound in sea-fowl, its warm and moist 

 summers and extensive forests favour the 

 rearing of nestlings, and it is on an important 

 pathway of migration. The south coast, 

 the Arctic coast, the wooded interior, and 

 the Aleutian chain of islands have each 

 their characteristic species, and of all of 

 these interesting summarised accounts are 

 furnished by various writers. The coloured 

 plates are accompanied by duplicates in 

 outline, to be coloured by children, a 

 favourite mode of instruction with the 

 Audubon Societies. The frontispiece, it 

 may be noted, represents the Crossbill, the 

 same species which forms the frontispiece 

 to the present number of Bird Notes and 

 News. Eleven Federal bird-reservations, in 

 which all birds and eggs are protected, have 

 been established in Alaska since 1909. The 

 whole expense of the book, which is admir- 

 ably got up, is defrayed by one member of 

 the Association. 



