Marcu 31, 1904] 
NATURE 
507 
by one of 1lb., because they were able to quote chapter 
and verse in which Aristotle assured them that such is 
the fact.” 
Others later on positively refused to look through his 
telescopes or to test his experiments on floating bodies. 
The connection between music and mathematics was 
maintained in Galileo’s case. He played on the lute 
and his father was a well-known authority on music. 
Of the books themselves we can speak in the highest 
terms. Dr. McIntyre has evidently made an ex- 
haustive study of recent editions of Bruno’s works. 
His is the only English work dealing completely with 
Bruno’s life and philosophy, and it is illustrated by a 
frontispiece of the statue erected in 1889 on the site on 
which Bruno was burnt. Mr. Fahie has been fortunate 
to secure the assistance of Prof. Antonio Favaro, him- 
self the author of a monumental collection of Galileo’s 
works. Every minute point, such as the familiar 
‘““Eppur si muove’’ anecdote is examined critically 
and the book is beautifully illustrated. 
Let us not close these volumes without comparing the 
positions of scientific workers three hundred years ago 
and at the present time. The comparison brings little 
credit to our nation. Science teachers have quite 
recently been deprived of their posts, and their careers 
have been ruined by inquisitions. The attitude of the 
peripatetics towards experimental science finds its 
counterpart in the attitude of the modern “ practical 
man ’’ towards all pure science above B.Sc. standard. 
As for the hostility of Pisa towards Galileo, it has 
been pointed out elsewhere that workers at the two 
older English Universities have, in several cases, had 
to contend against similar and equally persistent op- 
position on the part of their Alma mater quite recently. 
It is true that men are no longer imprisoned, tortured, 
or burnt on account of their convictions. But, on the 
other hand, philosophers and mathematicians to grand 
dukes have ceased to exist. G. H. Bryan. 
A MONOGRAPH ON IMPORTED PARROTS. 
Parrakeets. A Handbook to the Imported Species. 
By David Seth-Smith, M.B.O.U., F.Z.S. Pp. xix+ 
281; with 20 coloured plates and other illustrations. 
(London: R. H. Porter, 1903.) Price gos. net. 
R. SETH-SMITH’S valuable monograph of the 
imported species of parrakeets is now complete, 
and forms a handsome, well-proportioned volume. 
Scientifically speaking, there is no distinction between 
a “ parrot” and a “‘ parrakeet,’’ the latter word being 
merely a popular term used for the smaller parrots. 
It cannot be applied to any particular family, or to 
those species with long or short tails. The title of this 
work must therefore be interpreted in the sense in 
which it is generally used by aviculturists. The work 
treats of about 130 species belonging to the families 
Loriide, Cacatuide, and Psittacidae (subfamilies 
Nasiternines, Conurine, Palzornithine, and Platy- 
cercinz). No less than thirty-three species are repre- 
sented on the beautifully executed coloured plates, and 
there are more than a score of illustrations in the text, 
chiefly illustrating the nesting and other habits. 
NO. 1796, vol. 69] 
Moreover, the author has been careful to indicate the 
work or works in which a coloured illustration of those 
species not figured by him may be found. Full and 
most useful directions as to feeding and managing 
the different species are given, as well as for breeding 
those species which have reared, or are likely to rear, 
their young with us. It is also pointed out which 
species are most suitable for large aviaries, and which 
are more adapted for smaller cages. The whole book 
throughout is most readable and instructive. For as 
well as all worth reproduction which has been written 
about the different species in captivity, the author has 
collected from the folios of Gould, Mr. A. J. Camp- 
bell’s *“‘ Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds,’’ Dr. 
Mivart’s ‘‘ Monograph of the Loriide,’? and many 
other works a great deal that has been written about 
the life-history and habits of the birds in a wild state, 
so that his work forms an excellent history of these 
beautiful birds, and is alike interesting to the field 
naturalist and the aviculturist. 
Turning over these interesting pages we notice 
especially the lorikeets or brush-tongued parrots, some 
of the most gorgeous of the tribe; the familiar cocka- 
tiel, which, with the exception of the budgerigar, is 
the commonest Australian species with English bird- 
keepers, breeding regularly in captivity; and the 
numerous race of the American conures. This group 
contains two species of especial interest, viz. the Caro- 
lina conure and the grey-breasted parrakeet. The 
former is the only North American parrot, and 
although once so abundant, seems likely to share the 
fate of the passenger pigeon. The latter, belonging 
to a genus containing but two known species, is one 
of the most interesting in the whole parrot family 
from the fact that these are the only nest-building 
parrots known, with the exception of the love-birds. 
(Agapornis), which line their nest-hole with the pliant 
pieces of bark from green twigs, and may therefore 
be termed nest-building parrots. The present species, 
however, builds a large nest of sticks among the 
branches of tall trees, which no other parrots, so far 
as is known, ever do. It is gregarious, always living 
in flocks, and the nests, which perhaps at first are 
single and inhabited by a single pair of birds, are 
gradually added to until they become of enormous size. 
There is a porch to each chamber, and the present 
writer has often seen the black beady eyes of these 
little parrots peeping out as he passed under trees bear- 
ing these wonderful nests. 
Then we come to the large genus Paleornis, to. 
which belong parrots that have been known to civilisa- 
tion from a remote period, e.g. the blossom-headed 
parrakeet, believed to have been described in the fifth 
century B.c. The restricted genus Polytelis includes 
the beautiful parrakeet known to Australians as the 
“green leek.’? The love-birds are remarkable, as 
before mentioned, for their nest-building habits, and 
those gorgeous little birds, the hanging parrakeets, 
for their curious habit of suspending themselves 
head downwards when sleeping. Among those species 
the beauty of which singles them out among a beautiful 
host, we have the broad-tailed parrakeets, of which 
the Rosella is the best known; the rarely imported 
