504 
NATURE 
[| JANUARY I, 1914 
BIRDS, GAME, 
M R. KEARTON’S books on British birds (1) 
Jk are so well, and deservedly, known, that 
the new edition of his work entitled “ British Birds’ 
Nests” calls for only a brief notice. The original 
edition first saw the light in the autumn of 1895, 
and was the first book of its kind to be illustrated 
throughout by means of photographs taken direct 
from nature, and was declared by 
the late Dr. Bowdler Sharpe to 
“mark a new era in natural 
history.” This was followed in 
1891 by another volume, entitled, 
“Our Rarer British Breeding 
Birds.”” The present revised and 
enlarged edition of the first work 
contains the best of the pictures 
that appeared in the pages of the 
second, together with numerous 
photographs secured during the 
intervening years. To give an 
idea of the time and labour ex- 
pended in gathering materials for 
this book, it may be mentioned 
that Mr. Richard Kearton, with 
his brother, Mr. Cherry Kearton, 
to whom, we understand, most 
of the photography is entrusted, 
have travelled more than thirty 
thousand miles and exposed more 
than ten thousand plates to 
secure the necessary illustrations 
of nesting sites and birds. In 
addition to the photographs, the 
book is illustrated with fifteen 
coloured plates of eggs. 
Within the last ten years or so, 
the question of the preservation 
of wild animals from extermina- 
tion at the hands of sportsmen 
and traders, who serve the fur 
and feather markets of the world, 
has pushed itself insistently to the 
front, and Dr. Hornaday’s power- 
fully worded appeal (2) for the 
instant passing of legislative 
measures to arrest the imminent 
extinction which threatens some 
of our finest mammals and most 
beautiful birds—an appeal backed 
by incontrovertible statistics—is 
addressed to the sportsmen and 
governing bodies of every civil- 
ised state in the world. Much has 
been attempted already in this 
direction both in America, Africa, and Australia; 
but Dr. Hornaday’s investigation of the question 
1 (r) ‘‘ British Birds’ Nests: How, Where, and When to Find and 
Identify Them.” By Richard Kearton. Illustrated from Photographs by 
Cherry and Richard Kearton. Pp. xii+520+plates. Revised and Enlarged 
Edition. (London: Cassell and Co., Ltd., 913.) Price 14s. net. 
(2) ‘‘Our Vanishing Wild Life: Its Extermination and Preservation.” 
By Dr. W. T. Hornaday. Pp. xvi+4r1. (New York; Charles Scribner's 
Sons, 1913 Price 1.50 dollars. 
(3) ‘‘ Trees in Winter: Their Study, Planting, Care and Identification.” 
By Dr. M. F. Blakeslee and Dr. C. D, Jarvis. Pp. 446. (New York; The 
Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 
3s. 6d. net. 
NO. 2305, VOL. 92] 
AUN DPR EELS)» 
An osprey and its eyrie. 
so far as Canada and the United States are con- 
cerned has revealed ‘“‘a mass of evidence proving 
that the existing legal System for the pre- 
servation of wild life is fatally defective,” and 
that those who imagine the protective measures 
to be effectively operative are living in a fool’s 
paradise. In a great measure this is due to the 
circumstance that fully 90 per cent. of the protec- 
tive laws have been practically dictated by the 
From “ British Birds’ Nests.” 
killers of the game, with the result that in all 
but a few instances ‘“‘open seasons” for slaughter 
have been carefully provided for so long as any 
game remains to be killed. | According to Dr. 
Hornaday, whose authority in such a matter no 
one will be prepared to dispute, the point has now 
been reached where a choice has to be made, 
between the enforcement of long closed seasons 
and a gameless continent ! 
