As it was in the beginning.



83



such as “ Traquet ” for Wheatear and “ Vanneau dix-huit ” for the

Peewit or Lapwing. We are sorry to see Cisticola cursitans described

as the “ Fan-tailed Warbler,” since this might lead to confusion with

the true Fantails of the Australian genus Rhipidura; the simple

term “ Cisticola ” would have been a title at once distinctive and

zoologically correct. We were glad to see mentioned the curious

habit of nesting on the tops of buildings practised by the Senegal

Stone-Curlew—one of the most unlikely of all birds, one would think,

to avail itself of such accommodation.


Although of unequal merit, the figures are in the main good-

We would specially mention the Tawny Pipit, the White-Collared

Flycatcher, the Skylark, and the Buff-backed Egrets: these are

charming examples of the illustrator’s art. Very beautiful also are the

Senegal and Saharan Stone-Curlews, limned not only with exceeding

accuracy, but rendered in a delicately minute manner that suggests

the lines of a tine etching ; to us they suggested a mural decoration

on some ancient temple. On the other hand, the artist has read into

the plumage of the Lapwing too much of the brightness of the

Egyptian sky; a very dingy Little Bee-Eater gives but a poor idea

of the bird of Cleopatra, and this is the more unfortunate owing to

the skilfully-presented, quiet beauty of the Blue-cheeked Bee-Eater

immediately above. G. R.



AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING.



It has well been said that the influence of the war has been so

far-reaching that there is not one of us whose life it has not pro¬

foundly altered. The same, indeed, may be said with equal truth of

communities and societies, such as our own. The importation of

live birds has had to be severely restricted, almost to extinction ;

even the healthiest pets die in the end, and our fast-emptying

aviaries contain but a shadow of their pre-war population. There

are many of our members who have no birds at all.


This state of affairs is reflected in the Magazine. Instead of

papers exclusively devoted to the breeding and management of birds

we note a most interesting evolution. Mindful that the Society is


7



