Vol. XIII 

 1914 



J From Magazines, S'C. 225 



of September the young is hatched. As there is only one chick 

 to ten or so adults, and as every one of the latter wishes to brood, 

 there is much jostling and struggling to get possession of the little 

 one, that brings upon the poor creature unintentional wounds, 

 sometimes causing its death. 



" Toward the end of October migration toward the north takes 

 place, the birds letting themselves be carried off on fragments of 

 ice broken from the iceberg ; the chicks, still covered with down, 

 are carried by their parents. In January they lose this down, 

 and from this time on they provide for themselves. 



" While the young live on the outskirts of the icebergs the 

 adults return south to seek sohd ice, on which they go to moult, 

 then in the month of June they come together again, and the 

 cycle that we have just briefly described begins anew." 



The article was illustrated by numerous excellent photo. -blocks. 



Reviews. 



[" Indian Pigeons and Doves." By E. C. Stuart Baker, F.Z.S., F.L.S.- 

 M.B.O.U. Witherby and Company, London. 191 3.] 



This finely-illustrated volume should prove a boon to field 

 ornithologists in India, and both author and pubhshers are to be 

 congratulated on its production. In his preface the author 

 states : — 



" My reasons for writing a volume upon our Indian Pigeons 

 and Doves are several. ... In the first place, there has as 

 yet been no book pubHshed which deals with these most beautiful 

 birds from the point of view of the sportsman and field naturalist 

 as well as from that of the scientific or museum naturalist. . . . 

 Skins — as skins — are without doubt full of interest, and especially 

 so, perhaps, when the person studying them is more or less 

 intimate with the life-histories of the birds themselves ; but 

 Pigeons are well worthy of study in ways other than by dry skins. 

 To the field naturalist they are birds full of interest ; to the 

 aviculturalist they are birds more charming and worthy of culture 

 than has hitherto been generally admitted ; and to the sportsman 

 they offer an object well worthy of attention, for he must have 

 a quick eye, a sure hand, and considerable perseverance and 

 patience before he has mastered their habits, and is able to find 

 them, and, when found, bring them to bag." 



Many ornithologists will agree with most of these statements ; 

 but one may be permitted to wonder wherein lies the pleasure 

 of shooting, for sport, birds that are so beautiful and interesting. 

 A bird in the bush is worth a score in the game-bag, in the opinion 

 of those who are true bird-lovers. 



A feature of this book is that it introduces for the first time 

 into India the trinomial system — the system that recognizes 

 sub-species. But India, the author states, is essentially a country 

 in which such a system is found necessary, " for the variations 



