544 



NATURE 



[February 23, 191 1 



range of the Nilotic negro peoples of East Africa. 

 But, so far as 1 know, not a single Masai, Gala, or 

 Nilotic negro word-root has yet been discovered in 

 the Zulu speech. The main relationships of this very 

 isolated language are with the East African Bantu, 

 though there are strands of West African Bantu in 

 its composition. It has, of course, affinities with the 

 Herero group, and this again is related almost equally 

 ^o the West African, the East African Bantu, and 

 to the archaic forms of Bantu speech still existing in 

 and about the Victoria and Albert Nyanzas. 

 , Mr. Theal's book has some excellent examples of 

 southern Bantu folklore, though a few of these stories 

 have been so often repeated by other writers (borrow- 

 ing from him) that they are a little stale. So also 

 are the illustrations, which may be said to have be- 

 come common property, being derived from early 

 photographs and drawings going back to the 'seven- 

 ties and even 'fifties. But a very important (and it 

 ^eems to the reviewer more or less novel) part of the 

 took is that which deals in pp. 264-73, '^^^ i" chapter 

 xxiv., with the growth in mental development of the 

 South African Bantu and their increase in numbers 

 under a civilised regime. On the whole, Mr. Theal's 

 observations would seem to point to . a very decided 

 and more or less permanent improvement in mental 

 development and well-being ; while as to their in- 

 crease in numbers under the Fax Britannica, there 

 can be no question whatever. 



His observations on monogamy versus polygamy 

 would seem — whether he intends" it or not — to bear out 

 in a moderate way the opinions of various mission- 

 aries and students of Africa, that under monogamy 

 the rate of increase is at least as great as that which 

 prevails under the conditions of polygamy, and per- 

 haps is greater; while the improvement in morals and 

 the well-being and bringing up of children under the 

 system of " one husband, one wife," can no longer 

 be disputed. H, H. Johnston. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY OF BIRDS.^ 



THE present volume is a companion to the " Home 

 Life of a Golden Eagle," noticed in Nature of 

 May 26, 1910. It is about the same size, but four 

 biographies instead of one are contained in it. The 

 " Home Life of a Golden Eagle " as a vie intime w^ill 

 be difficult to excel. It admitted us, by means of 

 that impersonal spy, the camera, to the closest inti- 

 macy with the entire domestic arrangements, and to 

 the vmbroken succession of parental duties of the 

 royal birds. Mr. Beetham has attempted to do for 

 the spoonbill, the white stork, and the common and 

 the purple herons, ^vhat Mr. Macpherson did for the 

 eagle. We have to confess with regret that he has 

 succeeded only multum post intervallum. Both 

 watchers employed from an ambush the same methods 

 of the masked camera ; but we have from Mr. 

 Beetham fuller details of the methods than of the 

 object for which they w^ere the end. Both were ex- 

 perts in picture-taking, and our author's results are 

 in no way inferior to those of Mr. Macpherson. The 

 methods they employed are, it seems to us, those by 

 which the accurate life-histories of our birds up 

 to the standard of that of the golden eagle can be 

 obtained. It will take a long time before they can 

 all be biographed, but it w-ill eventually be accom- 

 plished so long as among the photo-ornithologists are 

 to be numbered men like Mr. Beetham, who despise 

 the unnumbered difificulties, discomforts, and often 

 very real dangers necessary to securing unimpeach- 

 able records. 



1 "The Home-life of tbe Spoonbill, the Stork, and Some Heron=." 

 Photographed and Described by B. Beetham Pp. viii + 47 + 32 mounted 

 plates. (London : Witherby and Co., iqto.) Price 5s. net. 



To be of real value, however, the observations must 

 be a continuous series of the same subject taken at 

 carefully chosen intervals, accompanied by detailed 

 descriptions of careful personal observations. In this 

 respect the present budget of biographies leaves much 

 to be desired. Instead of a connected diary we have 

 disconnected glimpses into the different households- 

 through swings of the door. The " Home Life of a 

 Spoonbill " can hardly be called more than a passing 

 "look in" at the nursery. Yet the peeps we do get 

 are not without value, and many are very interesting, 

 but they are solitary episodes in the bird's history. 

 Plates i. and ii. refer to one home; there its story 

 ends. The rernaining nine are pictures of another 

 home. Plate iii. was photographed on June 17, iv. 

 and V. on June 19, and the remaining six on June 23. 

 We are introduced to the young spoonbills when 

 they are ten days old; we next re-visit their home 



Fig. 



-The claw of each toe has a strong hooking action. From " The 

 Home-life of the Spoonbill," by Bentley Beetham. 



NO. 2156, VOL. 85] 



when their age is twelve and fifteen days respec- 

 tively, when this second biography — which had no 

 beginning — also ends. 



This is a very great contrast to the absorbingly 

 interesting development of the golden eagle's nestling 

 in unbroken sequence, from its birth to its coming 

 of age. Not more satisfying is the record of the white 

 stork, which begins when the storklings are fully 

 fledged, and though we have eight very excellent 

 photographs of them, w-e learn nothing about their 

 plumage changes and little about their upbringing 

 and education by their parents. We are equally dis- 

 appointed with what can hardly be called the "home- 

 life " of the common and the purple herons. We are 

 brought on the scene when the first chick of the 

 former emerges on April 1 1 ; then the door is closed 

 for six weeks — the most interesting period of the 



