96 Recently published Ornithological Works. [Ibis, 



Evans on British Birds. 



[Tlie Birds of Britain, their distribution and haljits. By A. H. Evans, 

 M.A., pp. xii + 275, 94 figs. Cambridge (University Press), 191G. 

 8vo.] 



This little work, by the late co-editor of ' The Ibis/ is 

 intended primarily for the use of schools, though it will 

 doubtkss be found useful by other people who require a 

 short and concise hand-book. 



The Introduction contains a brief discussion of th.e general 

 characters of the class Aves, and of such subjects as moult, 

 flight, and migration. Then follows the systematic portion 

 of the work. Each family or subfamily is considered in 

 turn and a paragraph or so devoted to each species. Only 

 those birds are treated of which may be called regular in- 

 habitants of the British Isles. The occasional and rarer 

 visitors arc relegated to a list at the end of the work. 



The classification is the same as that of Howard Saunders's 

 ' Manual,^ and the nomenclature almost that of the new 

 edition of the B. O. U. list. In a work o£ this sort we feel 

 that it would have been more useful if more space had been 

 given to clearly pointing out the diagnostic characters of 

 the families and genera. If the work is intended for edu- 

 cational purposes, it is most necessary to help the student 

 to identify any bird he may come across, and it appears to 

 us that the only sure method of doing this is by giving clear 

 definitions of structural and other characters, confining 

 them, so far as possible, to those which can be easily recog- 

 nised. A series of illustrations of bills^ legs, and wings — 

 such, for instance, as are to be found in Ridgway's great 

 work on North-American birds — would have been far more 

 useful than the photographs with which Mr. Evans has 

 illustrated his work. These vary very much in quality, 

 many of them having obviously suffered in the reproduction, 

 and we can hardly Hnd much help in the recognition of the 

 species in the cases of the Redstart and the Robin. Others, 

 however, such as the Curlevv, are highly characteristic, and 

 reflect great credit on the artists. 



