^ol. II. 1 

 1902 J 



Reviews. 12 1 



" roughly classed, first as residents, regular or irregular, of the 

 particular parish ; secondly as migrants to and from the 

 country, summer and winter. Fifty-one of the total number of 

 birds are placed in the first of these two categories, the remain- 

 ing 25 in the second." There is much in the volume that 

 recalls the close observation and admirable description of 

 Richard Jefferies, the patient watching and the keen sympathy 

 with the object observed ; and though the terse directness of 

 White's " Selborne " is missing, one feels that the author is 

 master of his craft, and does not find a dull page. To pick a 

 gem from this casket, the chapter entitled " A Medley " might 

 be chosen, and yet it is hardly more readable than several 

 others. " Birds at the Soup Kitchen " and " Summer Migrants " 

 are almost equally good. If the author is occasionally too 

 imaginative in the language he puts into the mouths of his 

 birds, he always makes it reveal bird ways, and thus elicits 

 " points " a casual observer might overlook. Those who wish 

 some acquaintance with British bird life could hardly do better 

 than peruse this book. 



* * * 



" Strange Adventures in Dicky-Bird Land." — A little 

 book with this title, by the well-known writer, R. Kearton, 

 F.Z.S., who, with his brother, has done so much to reproduce 

 phases of bird-life photographically, shows a tendency of modern 

 bird literature. The aim is to induce children to take an 

 intelligent interest in wild life, and the author has endeavoured 

 to do so by means of a series of short stories in which the 

 heroes and heroines are birds and beasts. When these are read 

 as illustrated by the admirable pictures (taken from life) it is 

 hard to conceive of anything that could be more effective in the 

 production of a love of natural history in the young. The 

 incidents introduced being founded on facts which have come 

 under the notice of the author, the work can be strongly recom- 

 mended. It is published by Cassell and Co. 



A NEW magazine, called Animal Life, is being published by 

 Hutchinson and Co., London. " Zoo Notes," in the first number, 

 include pictures of the King and Thick-billed Penguins, as well 

 as other birds. A Nankeen Night-Heron from Australia is 

 figured, and as a novelty in bird life a photo, is given of an 

 Osprey, with the remark that, though once common in Britain, 

 more particularly in the north, it now never lives long if brought 

 there. A paper on " The Last Hampshire Ravens " is worth 

 perusal, and from it one regrets to learn that " as an inland bird 

 the Raven has been nearly exterminated." The illustrations 

 are good examples of the high standard to which photo.- 

 illustrations can be brought, and are of the more value as being 

 taken direct from life. 



