268 



NATURE 



[October 27, 192 1 



History of Birds in Britain. 



Early Annals of Ornithology. By J. H. Gurney. 

 Pp. viii + 240. (London: H. F. and G. 

 Witherby, 192 1.) 125. 6d. net. 



ALL who are interested in ornitholog"y should 

 read this book, which gives an excellent 

 account of our knowledge of birds from the 

 earliest times, and of the authorities whence that 

 knowledge is drawn. Mr. Gurney, as he tells us 

 in his preface, is more particularly concerned 

 with Britain ; indeed, if more than occasional 

 references were to be made to such European 

 authors as Aldrovandus, Belon, Clusius, and 

 Gesner, the work would become of unmanageable 

 size. After a preliminary survey of prehistoric 

 records we have successive chapters dealing in 

 order with the centuries from the fourth to the 

 eighteenth. 



The state of England naturally comes under 

 consideration, and especially that of the Fens and 

 of the Eastern counties, with which the author 

 and his family are so closely connected. The 

 undrained marshlands were formerly the haunt of 

 many birds now rare or exterminated ; the warrens 

 and wolds were untouched and the sea coasts little 

 disturbed. 



Even during the Roman occupation of Britain 

 we find various species of birds mentioned by early 

 authors. The pheasant is supposed to have been 

 introduced by the conquerors, while the turkey, 

 peafowl, guinea-fowl, and swan become prominent 

 as the years roll by. Fowls and pigeons are of 

 much earlier date. 



Falconry was a favourite pursuit of the ancients, 

 which was practised by Saxon or Norman kings 

 as eagerly as by their successors. The gannet, 

 the eagle, and so forth are celebrated in the earliest 

 poems, while we constantly find records of the 

 falcons and hawks used for sport. Aviaries were 

 fairly common things, favoured even by kings. 

 Mr. Gurney considers as worthy of more extended 

 notice the bittern, the bustard, the crane, the 

 gannet, the great auk, and the spoonbill. The 

 black-headed gull comes later into the same cate- 

 gory. Swanneries and swan-marks are always a 

 matter of interest, and they are treated very fully, 

 while duck-decoys and similar devices are by no 

 means neglected. Ornithologists are indebted for 

 many pieces of information to the bills of fare 

 of the great feasts of old, while the household 

 accounts of certain families have carefully to be 

 examined. Such are those of Lord W. Howard of 

 Naworth and of the Shuttleworths of Lancashire ; 

 but by far the most important are those of the 

 le Straunges of Hunstanton, which have been ex- 

 NO. 2713, VOL. 108] 



haustively examined by the present head of the 

 family. 



Throughout the book we find reference to the 

 great writers of old on birds and science generally, 

 such as. Hector Boece, Sir Thomas Browne, 

 Pennant, Pontoppidan, Ray, Turner, and Wil- 

 lughby, not to mention the lesser lights. 



The only section of this admirable work where 

 we feel inclined to criticise the author's treatment 

 of his subject is the first chapter. Its title of " Pre- 

 historic Birds " scarcely fits the text, for some of 

 the species mentioned are still in existence, though 

 known from prehistoric times. Again, although 

 we should not expect full details of fossil birds, 

 we should have liked a few words about the 

 earliest known form of archaeopteryx and its cre- 

 taceous successors. Another possible method 

 would have been to omit all allusions to fossil 

 birds and to start this most interesting chapter 

 with the cave drawings, the Meidonn slab, 

 Aristotle, and Pliny. 



Chromium, Platinum, and Lead Ores. 



Imperial Institute: Monographs on Mineral 

 Resources, with Special Reference to the British 

 Empire. (i) Chromium Ore. By W'. G. 

 Rumbold. Pp. ix + 58. (1921.) 35. 6d. net. 

 (2) The Platinum Metals. By A. D. Lumb. 

 Pp. ix + 63. (1920.) 35. 6d. net. (3) Lead 

 Ores. By T. C. F. Hall. Pp. ix+127. 65. 

 net. (London: John Murray, 1921.) 



THESE three additions to the Imperial Insti- 

 tute's series of Monographs on Mineral 

 Resources deal respectively with the ores of 

 chromium and lead, and the platinum metals. 

 Those on chromium and platinum are naturally 

 the most complete, for the lead ores are especially 

 varied and widely distributed, and have a longer 

 mining history. 



(i) Chromite ores are of particular geo- 

 logical interest, since they are generally claimed 

 to be of direct igneous origin. An account of such 

 evidence as might be yielded by the microscopic 

 structure of the ores as to their mode of forma- 

 tion would have added to the perrrianent value of 

 the monograph. Mr. Rumbold adopts the view 

 that the Rhodesian chromite ores, though very 

 different in character from those for which the 

 igneous theory was propounded, are not incon- 

 sistent with it. This statement of the evidence 

 from all the chromium fields shows, however, that 

 the chromites for which the direct igneous origin 

 is probable form but a small proportion of the 

 commercial ores. Most of the existing supply of 

 chromium comes, not from segregations in dunite 



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