lOO 



NATURE 



[May 31, 1900 



a good deal that goes on in schools under the name of 

 science-teaching will thank Prof. Tait for this courageous 

 utterance. The mischief is that school-teaching is domi- 

 nated by examinations, and that the kind of science- 

 teaching which it is possible, and highly desirable, to have 

 in schools does not readily lend itself to examination- 

 tests of the ordinary kind. 



The volume is marked by the same beauty and ac- 

 curacy of printing as the former one. It is intimated 

 that a third volume will complete the work. 



Horace Lamb. 



WYATT'S BRITISH BIRDS. 

 British Birds ; with some Notes in reference to their 



Plumage. By C. W. Wyatt. Coloured Illustrations. 



(London : William Wesley and Son, 1899.) 

 ■\17HETHER the beautifully illustrated work on the 

 same subject by the late Lord Lilford leaves room 

 for the present volume and its predecessor, is a question 

 for the publisher rather than for the reviewer to answer ; 

 but, if the stream of books on the subject be any criterion, 

 the appetite of the British public for natural histories of 

 the avifauna of their own country seems insatiable. Apart 

 from all this, the present work, of which the first volume 

 was issued in 1897, has high claims on the consideration 

 of the public, the large size (4to.) of the paper on which 

 they are printed permitting the plates to be on a scale of 

 greater magnitude than in the work above-mentioned, 

 while their excellence from an artistic point of view, as 

 well as their apparent fidelity to nature, leaves little or 

 nothing to be desired from the point of view of the 

 connoisseur in animal painting. In too many instances 

 we have either an inartistic but truthful portrait of the 

 creature depicted, or an artistic picture in which de- 

 tails of coloration are sacrificed to the general effect ; 

 but in the present case, the happy mean appears to 

 have been attained in these respects. The plates are 

 signed with the initials " C. W. W.," but we are told in 

 the preface that the colouring has been done by the 

 daughters of Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, whose training is a 

 sufficient guarantee for its accuracy. 



It must, indeed, be understood that the book stands 

 or falls by the plates, as the letterpress is restricted 

 in the main to details concerning the plumage of the 

 specimens figured, or to generalities relating to seasonal 

 changes of colour, nothing in the way of description 

 being given. 



When the scientific names applied to the different 

 species are those of almost universal acceptation, 

 no references to other works are added ; but in 

 the case of those where uniformity is by no means 

 general, a reference is made to the synonyms used in 

 standard manuals, such as the fourth edition of " Yarrell." 

 It may be added that the reference to the latter work 

 in the case of the Hen-Harrier appears to have been 

 introduced by mistake, as the nomenclature employed 

 is the same. As regards generic nomenclature, the 

 author adopts a middle course, avoiding the inordinate 

 " splitting " followed by some ornithologists, as he does 

 Ihe excessive " lumping " favoured by others. 



The first volume was devoted to the resident Passeres 

 of the British Islands, and as the present commences with 

 NO. 1596, VOL. 62] 



the migratory members of the same order, it will be 

 evident that the author does not confine himself to a 

 strictly systematic arrangement. In excluding the casual 

 visitors, which, in our own opinion, have no right 

 whatever to the title of British Birds, the author differs 

 from the plan followed by some of his brother ornitholo- 

 gists, whose object seems to be to draw up as long a list 

 as possible, without any regard to the facts of geogra- 

 phical distribution. The other groups included in this 

 volume include the Picarians, Owls, Hawks, and Pigeons, 

 so that the Game Birds, Waders, and Water-Birds alone 

 remain for its successor. 



As a handsome, and at the same time an accurate, 

 series of volumes for the drawing-table, the work may be 

 heartily commended to all bird-lovers with whom " money 

 is no object." R. L. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Our Native {American'] Birds, how to protect them, and 



attract them to our homes. By D, Lange. Pp. x -I- 162. 



(New York : The Macmillan Co. ; London : Mac- 



millan and Co., Ltd., 1899.) 

 Lest our readers should be misled into thinking that the 

 present little volume is but another item in the already 

 large literature of British ornithology, we have ventured 

 to indicate its birth-place by a bracketed interpolation in 

 the title. 



The author, to whom the love of birds is evidently 

 second nature, starts with the assertion that, with the 

 exception of a few counties, the number of song-birds has 

 of late years been steadily decreasing in the United 

 States, and then proceeds to consider in detail — firstly, 

 how this unfortunate state of things has been brought 

 about, and, secondly, how it may best be remedied. Nor 

 are song-birds alone considered, a certain amount of 

 space being devoted to game-birds (inclusive of the 

 Anatidae\ many of which have likewise suffered severely. 



The fact of the decrease in the former group seems to 

 rest on conclusive evidence ; the main causes assigned 

 being lack of suitable nesting-places, want of water and 

 food, the abundance of cats (domestic and feral), the 

 ravages committed by boys, collectors, and plume- 

 hunters, the aggressive habits of the English sparrow, 

 and the use of poison in gardens and farms. 



As regards legislative protection, the author wisely 

 leaves this to the various "Audubon Societies," which 

 have been established in the States, and other suitable 

 agencies ; devoting his attention mainly how to supply 

 to his feathered friends such objects as are essential to 

 their well-being, and how to guard them from the attacks 

 of their chief foes. As our readers are aware, many 

 towns and villages in the States are located on the open 

 prairie, where the absence of cover renders the birds 

 especially liable to destruction ; while even in districts 

 more favoured by nature there seems to be a great ten- 

 dency to make the gardens of residents as open and bare 

 of shrubbery as possible. Old hollow trees, too, which 

 form the nesting-places of so many species, have Hkewise 

 been ruthlessly felled, so that the unhappy birds have 

 literally no retreats wherein to hide. 



.Accordingly, the planting of trees, vines and shrubs 

 (especially kinds which afford good cover and edible 

 berries) is strongly urged, while beds of suitable kinds 

 of flowers, such as gladioli, should be planted to attract 

 humming-birds. For species building in hollow trees, 

 nesting-boxes should be provided in suitable sites ; while 

 drinking and bathing vessels should be furnished in the 

 dry season, and abundance of suitable food at all times. 

 The noxious sparrow is to be hustled out of the usurped 

 nesting-places, while coils of barbed wire, or suitable 



