26 



NATURE 



[May 13, 1897 



unrepresented in it. Mr. Grant has, consequently, in pre- 

 paring his two volumes, had the opportunity, of which he 

 has with infinite pains availed himself, of comparing his 

 descriptions with the specimens in the National Collec- 

 tion. It is not too much to affirm that, as a guide to this 

 group of birds, these two volumes have no superior, and 

 though condensed, all the essential facts of their life- 

 histories, so far as known, are carefully set out. As the 

 editor justly remarks, they constitute " a small monograph 

 of the Gcillincc." Two species are described in this 

 volume as new, namely Ttirmx ivJiiteheadl, one of that 

 excellent naturalist's numerous discoveries in the Philip- 

 pines, and Amniopcrdix cholinleyi from the Soudan. 



We have had more than once to note the unsatisfactory 

 character of the plates in Allen's Naturalist's Library. 

 There is, however, a slight improvement in this respect 

 in the eighteen illustrations in the present volume, as 

 compared with those of several of its predecessors ; but 

 as bird portraits they are still far from what they ought to 

 be, especially in a work where the standard of the text is 

 so high. Considerable carelessness is seen in Plate 

 xxxiv., for instance, where the colouration differs widely 

 from the description, the result of the cheap way in which 

 the chromolithography has been executed. The poorness 

 of the plates, however, cannot seriously interfere with the 

 value and usefulness of this excellent handbook. 



Mr. Oswin Lee presents us with still another work on 

 British birds ! Believing that among the number of 

 Ijooks which ha\e been published on British birds and 

 their eggs, many of which are beautifully illustrated, there 

 has never been published, so far as he is aware, any 

 complete work giving faithful representations of their 

 nests, he essays to supply the need by issuing to sub- 

 scribers, at intervals of four to six weeks, a fascicle of 

 photographs, which he hopes " will possess the accuracy 

 of a scientific work on the nesting habits of birds, and yet 

 be sufficiently attractive for the ordinary lover of birds." 

 As to the excellence of the photographs as pictures, and 

 of the general "get-up" of the work, as judged by the 

 portions so far issued, we can speak with unqualified 

 praise ; that the latter, indeed, should be all that can be 

 desired, goes without saying when we mention that the 

 publisher is Mr. David Douglas, of Edinburgh, The 

 plates are the raison d'etre of the book, but each illustra- 

 tion is accompanied by " short descriptions of the habits 

 of the birds at the nests, the finding of them, the materials 

 of which they are formed, and the methods employed in 

 getting faithful photographs of those more difficult of 

 access, some of which . . . were only secured after hours 

 of anxious watching and much patience." The difficulties 

 to be overcome, and the patience required to secure a 

 satisfactory plate of a bird on or by its nest, in a natural 

 attitude, are, we admit, very great ; but we think that in 

 many cases the results are far from commensurate with 

 the time, trouble, and expense devoted to securing them. 

 We have more than once expressed in these pages the 

 opinion that, with regard to the majority of nests, a 

 photograph, taken close enough to give the details of the 

 materials of which they are composed, and the form and 

 markings of the eggs, must fail to convey a true idea of 

 their site, size, or surroundings. Take, for instance, the 

 nests of the Vaiiellus vidgaris. No one looking at Plate i. 

 would, without explanation, recognise it as "a lapwings 

 NO. 1437, VOL. 56] 



nest, for it appears as if composed of large twigs placed 

 amid strong brushwood, the photograph having been 

 taken at close quarters, and there being no object in the 

 picture to suggest the dimensions of the eggs and grass 

 relatively to the area occupied. Again, that on Plate ii.. 

 instead of giving one the impression of being on a 

 ploughed field, as is intended, seems to be built in a nook 

 in the face of a precipitous cliff! On the other hand, the 

 illustration of the cormorant's nest is most charming. 

 Here we have the nest and its eggs in the foreground of a 

 little bit of scenery which forms a true scale for our 

 mental picture. Photographs fail, we think, too, \\\ 

 suggesting the texture, character, and markings of the 

 eggs. These are faults inherent to all camera pictures. 

 Mr. Oswin Lee's photographs are, however, the best we 

 have seen ; and his notes, if short and containing, as a 

 rule, few new observations, are generally his own, and are 

 interesting and accurate. The small etched tail-pieces,, 

 from his own pencil, are delightful, and often catch with 

 great fidelity some characteristic attitude of the birds he 

 has been describing. 



GEGENBAUR'S FESTSCHRIFT. 

 Festschrift ziim Sicbenzigsten Geburtstage. Von Carl 

 Gegenbaur. Vols, i., ii. and iii. Pp. 436, 486, and 788. 

 (Leipzig : Engelmann, 1896.) 



THE three large volumes of essays and researches by 

 the friends and pupils of Gegenbaur, form a very 

 remarkable monument to the influence which the great 

 Heidelberg Professor has exercised in the world of 

 science. 



The list of distinguished zoologists who contribute to 

 the "Festschrift" would alone attract attention, and render 

 the book worthy of a place in every zoological library ;. 

 but the impression given on reading it, is that every one 

 of the contributors has given his best work to the volume 

 which does honour to the great master. 



To fairly criticise the several essays, or even to notice 

 the principal discoveries and conclusions made by the 

 different authors, would almost mean a review of modern 

 zoological research, for the contributions deal with a 

 great variety of zoological problems and classes of 

 animals. 



It is true that the majority of Gegenbaur's pupils have 

 written on subjects of vertebrate anatomy ; but the essays 

 on invertebrate morphology are none the less interesting 

 and important. 



The first, and in many ways the most striking, memoir 

 is the one by Haeckel, on the Amphoridea and Cystoidea. 

 All through the descriptions of genera and species, which 

 form the greater part of the essay, the reader must 

 feel the genius of Haeckel's extraordinarily powerful 

 and fertile mind. 



Many cautious palaeontologists may complain that 

 there is too much imagination about the work ; that 

 there is little proof that the restorations represent, even 

 approximately, the form that these extinct animals 

 possessed. But there is not really much difficulty n 

 distinguishing between what is recorded fact and what 

 is not, and the real gain to science in such a memoir is 

 that we have a clear and concise picture given to us, in 

 words and illustrations, of the thoughts about a group 



