Kevietvs



231



Bullfinch, Jay, and many of the Hawks '( These are all certainly

very beautiful birds and they lay very beautiful eggs, both as regards

shape and colour markings.


If the book has a fault it is that it is overburdened with instances

of curious behaviour and habit with little or no explanation. This is

a pity, for often a line or two would have proved very valuable.


Nevertheless, in spite of these minor drawbacks, and they are

nothing more, Mr. Finn has presented us with a work that must arrest

the attention of the most casual student of bird-life, and leave him with

a bushel of queries to solve, whilst to all those who delight in the study

of living zoology it contains a wealth of matter sufficient to keep the

most energetic busy.


The illustrations are excellent, but the index is very incomplete.

The publishers are at fault in neglecting to place a date of the year

of publication on the title-page.


W. E. OoLLINGE.


Birds and the War. Bv Hugh S. Gladstone, M.A., F.B.S.E.


pp. xviii, 169 ; illustrated. London : Skeffington & Son. Price


5s. net.


Mr. Gladstone has done good service to bird-lovers and to naturalists

in collecting and arranging the information available regarding the

relation of birds to war and of war to bird-life. The value of the

collection will increase with the years, for much of it has been gathered

from jottings and newspaper-cuttings which otherwise would soon have

been lost to memory. It affords a strange medley of fact and fiction.


Bird-breeders will be interested to read how faithfully Homing

Pigeons served the Army and Navy as messengers, and how Canaries

were used for the purpose of giving warning of a hostile gas attack.

Some economic faddists will be astounded to read again in the cold

light of post-War reason their own rash suggestions for the destruction

or exploitation of bird-life. Naturalists will learn of the delicacy of

the senses of birds, which enabled them to give early warning of air¬

raids and of distant bombardment; of the effect of the W ar upon

migration and nesting habits ; and of the behaviour of birds in w r ar

areas. Inventors may admire the ingenuity of the gentleman who



