NATURE 



[July 22, 1920 



regards illumination, the author discusses the life 

 and behaviour of a number of types. In connec- 

 tion with diving birds, he suggests that the 

 " flashes " of reflected light from the moving body 

 may attract fishes. Under the water the back of 

 the Great Northern Diver " simulates a shoal of 

 small shining fish." The inordinate appetite of 

 diving birds is emphasised ; thus a small cor- 

 morant took from Dr. Ward at one time twenty- 

 seven herrings of average size. It seems to us 

 that the author does not sufficiently appreciate 



the good these birds do from the fisherman's 

 point of view in destroying species which devour 

 food-fishes. There are two sides to most indict- 

 ments of birds. 



In addition to the contributions to the theory 

 of concealment of water animals from enemies 

 or from booty, the book contains many very 

 interesting natural history sketches — of the seal, 

 the heron, the kingfisher, various kinds of gulls, 

 and, best of all, the otter. Indeed, the story of 

 the otter strikes us as the finest part of the book. 

 NO. 2647, VOL. 105] 



We are not sure that a popular book, especially 

 one with a definite and very interesting problem 

 to discuss — animal life under water — is the place 

 for weighing the beneficial and injurious effects 

 of the activities of particular birds. That should 

 be done in a severely scientific and critical way. 

 Dr. Ward describes, for instance, the contents 

 of the stomachs of thirty black-headed gulls, 

 which show that these birds were "certainly not 

 helping the farmer." But it is easy to get expert 

 records of thirty cases which show the reverse. 

 The question is to which side the 

 balance inclines in a particular area 

 and through the year. This enter- 

 taining and breezy book is copiously 

 illustrated with very interesting 

 photographs. We appreciate these, 

 but we may hint at the injudicious- 

 ness of putting even a diagrammatic 

 penguin into a scene on a Highland 

 loch. 



(4) Mr. Hudson's "Birds in Town 

 and Village " is based on " Birds in 

 a Village " (1893), his first book about 

 bird life, but much of it is new. It 

 is a continual delight- — a succession of 

 fine pictures — and it is very gratifying 

 that the beautiful text should be so 

 successfully illustrated. Mr. E. J. 

 Detmold's coloured drawings are alto- 

 gether charming. The time is past 

 for speaking of the author's style, his 

 irresistible enthusiasm, his intimate 

 knowledge of birds, and his pas- 

 sion for them. If more people 

 read his books there would soon 

 be no need for a Plumage (Prohibi- 

 tion) Bill. 



"The robin is greatly distinguished 

 in a sober-plumaged company by the 

 vivid tint on his breast. He is like 

 the autumn leaf that catches a ray of 

 sunlight on its surface, and shines 

 conspicuously among russet leaves." 

 "The kingfisher, speeding like 

 an arrow over a field of buttercups 

 so close that they were touching, 

 seemed, with the sunshine full on it, 

 to be entirely of a shining, splendid 

 green. ... Flying so low above the 

 flowery level that the swiftly vibrat- 

 ing wings must have touched the 

 yellow petals, he was like a waif from 

 some far tropical land. The bird was tropical, 

 but I doubt if there exists within the tropics 

 anything to compare with a field of buttercups — 

 such large and unbroken surfaces of the most bril- 

 liant colour in nature." But we might as well 

 quote the whole book. The delightful "Birds of 

 a Village," which forms about half the book, is 

 echoed at the end in a story of the birds in a 

 Cornish village, and between the two there are 

 essays oh exotic birds for Britain (we confess 

 to regarding introductions with insular prejudice"), 



