NA TURE 



I I I 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER i, 1914. 



PONIES, PHEASANTS. AND POULTRY. 



(i) The Shetland Pony. By Charles and Anne 

 Douglas. With an Appendix on "The Making 

 of the Shetland Pony." By Prof. J, Cossar 

 Ewart. Pp. xi + 176 + plates. (Edinburgh and 

 London : W. Blackwood and Sons, 1913.) 

 Price los. 6d. net. 

 {2) Pheasants and Covert Shooting. By Captain 

 A. Maxwell. Pp. ix + 332 + plates. (London: 

 A. and C. Black, 1913.) Price 75. 6c?. net. 

 (3) Our Domestic Birds. Elementary Lessons in 

 Aviculture. By John H. Robinson. Pp. x + 

 317. (Boston and London : Ginn and Co.) 

 Price 6s. 

 (i) T T was a happy thought on Mr. and Mrs. 

 J. Douglas's part to write the story of the 

 Shetland pony — a survivor of the race of small 

 horses which was established in Britain in very 

 early times. The winsome creature, " small, 

 robust, gay, shaggy, alert, strong of bone, short- 

 eared, large-eyed," may be a composite of Oriental 

 and Scandinavian virtues, but there has been for 

 long a definite unified race, well adapted to the 

 natural conditions and human needs in Shetland. 

 Sheltered by abundant mane and tail and "that 

 waterproof double coat of thick fur and long hair 

 which alone can maintain warmth in wind and 

 rain and mist ' ' ; endowed with endurance and 

 "metall past belief"; yet with "docility and 

 sweetness of temper which make it more truly 

 domestic than any other horse," the Shetland pony 

 is congruent with its home. The authors have 

 written of it with pleasure, and their book is natur- 

 ally therefore pleasant reading. They tell us of 

 the history of the modern Shetland pony, which 

 owes much to the stud established by the Marquis 

 of Londonderry in 1870, and much to a single 

 individual called Jack. They describe the points 

 of the best type, and suggest lines of progress and 

 improvement. There is a valuable chapter on 

 management, evidently based on long experience. 

 The book is finely illustrated with interesting 

 photographs. 



We cannot refrain from quoting the delightful 

 closing paragraph of a charming book on a charm- 

 ing subject. 



" Yet in the end it is idle to deny that it is not 

 his indisputable economic validity that binds the 

 Sheltie's lovers to him : rather it is himself, his wis- 

 dom and his courage, his companionable ways, his 

 gay and willing service. Having taken from him 

 their first falls and first riding lessons, and fought 

 ^with him their first battles, they look forward to 

 an old age in which he shall draw their bath- 



NO. 2344, VOL. 94] 



chairs ; and in the interval of life he provides as 

 a field animal the dual charm of a creature at once 

 wild and tame — wild in his strong instincts, his 

 hardihood, and his indep>endence — domestic in his 

 wisdom and sweet temper, his friendly confidence 

 in mankind, and his subtle powers of ingratia- 

 tion." 



Prof. J. Cossar Ewart has added to the value 

 I of the book by furnishing a zoological appendix 

 ' on "The Making of the Shetland Pony." He 



comes to the conclusion that — 

 I " Shetland ponies are mainly descended from the 

 ' small and fleet ' race yoked to the chariots of 

 the Caledonians at the battle of Mons Graupius. 

 I This ancient race, again, was probably to begin 

 I with a blend of the slender-limbed, Arab-like 

 I ponies of the Swiss lake-dwellers, and of a thick- 

 ; set race of the elephant-bed type." 



j As to the small size, he says : 

 I " If Shetland ponies have not sprung from a 

 ; small wild pigmy race, it may be safely asserted 

 that their small size is mainly due to isolation in 

 small areas where they were forced to shift for 

 themselves under, as a rule, extremely unfavour- 

 able conditions." 



(2) Captain Aymer Maxwell has written an 

 admirable book on "Pheasants," a welcome com- 

 panion to his well-known "Partridge." It is 

 marked by competence of information, carefulness 

 of statement, a vigorous, interesting style, and 

 sound judgment on vexed questions. It is em- 

 bellished by numerou-s charming coloured pictures 

 by Mr. George Rankine. Most of the chapters 

 are of course practical, dealing with the rearing 

 of birds, the care of coverts, the shooting, the 

 inevitable conflict of interests between fox-hunting 

 and pheasant^preserving, and similar subjects. 

 In connection with covert-shooting, the duck 

 comes in for a chapter. The first three chapters 

 of the book are devoted to questions of natural 

 history — the different kinds of pheasants, their 

 habits, and their historj-. The Colchican pheasant, 

 now uncommon in Britain, was introduced by 

 persons unknown before 1000 a.d., and remained 

 in undisturbed possession until the end of the 

 eighteenth centur}', when the ring-necked species 

 was introduced from Southern China. Thereafter 

 came Japanese pheasants, Mongolian pheasants, 

 and more besides ; and as most of them interbreed 

 freely, our "common pheasant" is a vigorous 

 I mongrel which may combine characters of four or 

 ! five species. The author has interesting notes on 

 many subjects : the wild traits persisting in 

 reared pheasants, the rate of flight — rather under 

 j forty miles an hour, the power of swimming, the 

 ! cock's dangerous custom of proclaiming where he 

 settles down for the night, the pheasant vocabu- 

 lary, the courtship, tTie suppression of scent when 



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