NA TURE 



297 



THURSDAY, JULY 



ANOTHER BOOK ON BRITISH BIRDS. 

 A Handbook of British Birds. By J. E. Harting. New 

 and Revised Edition. Pp. -xxxi + 520 ; 35 plates. 

 (London: lohn C. Nimmo, 1901.) Price 2/. 2^. net. 



IT is now some years since the first edition of this book 

 appeared. The present volume, Mr. Harting points 

 out, is nearly treble the size of the original ; and, we 

 might truthfully add, is proportionately as interesting. 



The author claims for it that, 

 " as an attempt to show, in one volume, the precise status 

 of every so-called British bird, distinguishing the rare 

 and accidental visitants from the residents and annual 

 migrants, it conveys information of a kind which is not to 

 be found in any other work on British birds." 



Be that as it may, the present volume will prove 

 a valuable addition to the library of every working 

 ornithologist. More especially, perhaps, this book will 

 appeal to the outdoor naturalist and to the "collector." 

 But the " cabinet " naturalist w'ill feel himself scarcely less 

 in need of this work, for scattered throughout its scholarly 

 pages will be found innumerable instances of Mr. 

 Harting's intimate knowledge of his subject, both in the 

 fields of bionomics and of literature. 



It is obvious that, in a book of this kind, some sort of 

 systematic arrangement must be followed, and Mr. 

 Harting has been confronted with the difficult task of de- 

 ciding which of the numerous systems of classification that 

 have from time to time been proposed should be adopted 

 in the present volume. His choice has fallen upon the one 

 more or less in favour during the early part of the nine- 

 teeth century. A great feature of this system is the 

 prominence given to the accipitrine birds. Mr. Harting 

 justifies his choice in the following words : — 



" The most striking character which distinguishes 

 birds from all other vertebrates (save the Chiroptera) is 

 the power of flight, and since that peculiarity is most 

 highly developed in the falcons, which are able to over- 

 take and capture the fastest birds upon the wing, not 

 even excepting swallows and swifts, it seems not un- 

 reasonable on this account, if for no other, to place the 

 raptorial birds as the highest type of the class Aves at 

 the head of any scheme of classification." 



Mr. Harting's contention most certainly demands our 

 serious consideration. Nevertheless, to many the re- 

 vival of this claim to preeminence for the Raptores will 

 seem reactionary, especially to those who, after mature 

 deliberation and ripe experience, are convinced that the 

 headship of the class Aves must be vested in the Pas- 

 serine forms, the Corvidx standing as the type. 



Strangely enough, one of the strongest supporters of 

 the last-mentioned view, Prof. Newton, is retained, so to 

 speak, by Mr. Harting for the other side. Justification 

 for this is made out on the ground that Prof. Newton 

 followed this precedent when editing the fourth edition 

 of Yarrel's "British Birds" in 1871. But Mr. Harting 

 has overlooked the fact that since that date the editor of 

 this famous book has changed his views ; so that in 1884 

 we find him, as we have just indicated, a doughty cham- 

 pion for " the new learning." The thirteen years that 

 elapsed between the publication of the fourth edition of 

 NO. 1656, VOL. 64] 



Yarrell and the masterly article in the " Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica " were memorable years in the annals of 

 ornithology — memorable because of the brilliant work 

 of Parker, Garrod, Gadow and Forbes ; and no student 

 of ornithology, least of all Prof. Newton, watching the 

 development of their researches could fail to be im- 

 pressed with the facts they brought to light, and, being 

 impressed, could resist the conclusions to which these 

 appeared to lead. 



But seventeen years have elapsed since the " Encyclo- 

 predia " article was written, and in these days of prolific 

 publication we are apt to lose sight even of the many 

 gems buried in these ponderous tomes. Happily for us, 

 the substance of Prof Newton's article, " Ornithology," 

 was incorporated in the introduction to his " Dictionary 

 of Birds " — a book which has been aptly described as 

 marking " an epoch in ornithology " — wherein it was 

 probably read by many for the first time. Since this is 

 the more accessible of the two, we will quote what Prof 

 Newton has to say, therefrom. In his introduction to this 

 work, in dealing with the Passeres, he writes, "Thus we 

 reach the true Oscines, the last and highest group of 

 birds." Further on he quotes, in the strongest terms of 

 approval, Prof. Parker's dictum, that 



" In all respects, physiological, morphological and 

 ornithological, the crow may be placed at the head, not 

 only of its own great series (birds of the Crow-foriii), 

 but also as the unchallenged chief of the whole 

 ' Carinatje.' " 



And finally, towards the conclusion of the introduc- 

 tion, he writes : — 



" It is therefore confidently that the present writer 

 asserts . . . that at the head of the class Az'es must 

 stand the family Corvidac, of which family no one will 

 dispute the superiority of the genus Corinis, nor in that 

 genus the preeminence of Corvus corax — the widely 

 ranging raven of the northern hemisphere." 



Whether the crows and the forms associated there- 

 with will be allowed to retain this preeminence — which 

 is to-day generally recognised — time will show. This 

 darkly suggested insecurity of tenure will come probably 

 as a relief to Mr. Harting. He may further take heart of 

 grace in that this mdication of a "rift within the lute" 

 has come from a no less qualified authority than Mr. 

 Beddard, who suggests ("Classification of Birds," 1898) 

 that the Passeres and their allies should, perhaps, be rather 

 regarded as primitive, archaic types. " More especially,'' 

 he writes, in the opening words of the discussion on this 

 subject, " does it appear to me that ornithologists are in 

 error concerning the position of the picarian and pas- 

 serine birds," and he proceeds to adduce a number of 

 reasons which tend to support this view — reasons which 

 are weighty, and which demand a very careful examina- 

 tion from every aspiring taxonomist. 



It will be perceived from the foregoing that the relative 

 positions of the different groups of birds, one to another, 

 are yet by no means clearly defined ; therefore, until 

 systematic ornithology assumes a more definite shape, 

 Mr. Harting may fairly claim the right to choose for his 

 book that arrangement which most nearly meets his own 

 views. 



In dealing with the systematic position of the swifts 

 and swallows, Mr. Harting will again find himself in 



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