268 BRITISH BIRDS. 



faunas, and trust that before long some equally energetic 

 and competent observer will undertake the same labour of 

 love for South Wales. 



F.C.R.J. 



The Home-Life of Some Marsh-Birds. By Emma L. Turner and 

 P. H. Bahr. Illustrated. Witherby & Co. 2s. 6d. net. 



Within the last few years a very large number of books have 

 appeared illustrated with bird-photographs, and the charm of 

 their novelty has begun to wear off, so that the reviewer 

 has necessarily become more severely critical. It is with all 

 the more pleasure, therefore, that we are able to testify to the 

 excellence of the photographs in the present work. To one 

 who has had some practical experience of the difficulties and 

 disappointments of that most fascinating of pursuits — bird- 

 photography — the success of Miss Turner and Mr. Bahr are 

 objects of envy, and their very success goes to prove that they 

 are also most competent field-naturalists. 



The authors have, for the most part, entirely ignored the 

 stereotyped descriptions of the birds and their nests, with 

 which we are so often unnecessarily bored, but have narrated 

 in a simple and entertaining manner the habits and home-life 

 of the birds they were fortunate enough to observe at such 

 close quarters. In this way they have brought out many 

 interesting traits in their characters and modes of life that 

 had previously been little recorded ; and what is more, by 

 their excellent photographs they have given their less 

 fortunate brother ornithologists graphic proof of the facts 

 they narrate. In this connection Plate XVI. may be 

 instanced where the Red-throated Diver is shown returning 

 to its nest in a semi-upright position. The assumption of 

 this attitude by the Divers has been denied by many 

 naturalists and also by anatomists, but here we have ocular 

 proof that it is not only possible but also usual. 



It is very gratifying also to hear of the increase of that 

 most delightful bird, the Bearded Tit. 



One criticism as to detail we would make, and that is from a 

 pictorial point of view care should be taken to get the horizon 

 lines, where these come into the photographs, level. It is 

 sometimes impossible to do so with these difficult subjects 

 on the plate itself, but the fault is easily remedied afterwards 

 by judicious trimming. 



N.F.T. 



