530 



NATURE 



[April 6, 1899 



screamers ; but they are not the only birds which possess 

 this double allowance of extrinsic tracheal muscles. 

 Among the Gallinaceous birds, which present in other 

 points of structure such unexpected likenesses to the 

 Anseres, the same arrangement of the muscles is met 

 with. And the list of birds with two pairs of extrinsic 

 tracheal muscles is not exhausted by the facts mentioned. 

 The number of rectrices in the owls is not invariably 

 twelve, as seems to be implied by Mr. Evans. It is cer- 

 tainly usually so, but one genus is said to possess only 

 ten. This criticism may be fairly regarded as rather 

 pedantic ; not so, however, our objection to Mr. Evans' 

 statement that in the owls "the syrinx is bronchial." 

 There is no qualification of this bare sentence, which is 

 only partially true. Many owls, it is well known, do 

 show a purely bronchial syrinx — an interesting likeness 

 to the goat-suckers ; but in others the normal tracheo- 

 bronchial syrinx is evident. 



At intervals among the exceedingly conscientious de- 

 scriptions of colour and plumage are to be discovered a 

 few notes upon the customs and habits of the bird tribe. 

 Mr. Evans is particularly emphatic upon the varied 

 sounds and songs — an exceedingly useful part of the 

 subject to lay stress upon. But the tyro, who is probably 

 often puzzled by the notes of a strange bird, will be 

 baffled by the variety of utterances which are described 

 as occasionally pertaining to the same species. One 

 species, for instance, is credited with so great a variety 

 of noises that they can only be expressed by "a bray, 

 a croak, a harsh cackle, a diabolical scream, a puppy's 

 whine, or a soft whistle." " The voice of the goatsucker ' 

 is generally hollow, but is described in various cases as 

 a "croak," a "loud shrill cry," a "sad whistle," a 

 "jarring note," or a "moan." We presume that under 

 these extraordinarily diverse tones more than one species 

 is included, though it is not quite apparent from the text. 

 The croaking of the goatsucker reminds us of a slight 

 error in Prof Newton's " Dictionary of Birds." The 

 professor, under the heading "Night Raven," observes 

 that it is " a bird freciuently met with in fiction, but 

 apparently nowhere else. ' Now it is quite curious that 

 this word immediately follows "Nightjar" in the work 

 referred to — curious because John Hunter, under the 

 heading " Night-Raven," described the anatomy of the 

 nightjar or goatsucker. 



Under what may be termed "bionomics," Mr. Evans 

 has some remarks upon mimicry, not condensed into a 

 chapter or section, but scattered through the body of the 

 work. These remarks are not numerous, only four 

 instances being given, or at least noted, in the index. 

 They are entirely among Passerines, and do not include, 

 to our mind, the most striking examples of superficial 

 likeness between birds remote from each other in the 

 system. One of the very best instances is the likeness 

 between the large ground cuckoo Carpococcyx and a 

 gallinaceous bird. The cuckoo suggests a pheasant, in 

 its size chiefly and gallinaceous strut, but the colours are 

 not at variance with the view that it represents a genuine 

 case of selective variation in the direction of a gallin- 

 aceous model ; and it will be remembered that in the 

 birds which the cuckoo suggests there arc formidable 

 spurs, which seem to form an excuse for the attempt at 

 protection. But Mr. Evans is unnecessarily redundant 

 NO. 1536, VOL. 59] 



when he speaks of this singular phenomenon as " un 

 conscious mimicry"; no one could seriously urge a 

 conscious attempt to put on the appearance of some 

 other bird. But such instances do not form the 

 strongest argument that the believer in mimicry has at 

 his disposal. The advantage is not plain in most cases, 

 and the question of genetic alliance, and therefore 

 genuine likeness based upon affinity, is not to l>e settled 

 at once. Prof. Garrod, it will be remembered, thought 

 the cuckoos to be not far from the Gallin:o, and there 

 is much to be said for his view. 



Such general questions as migration are not neglected 

 by the author. But he has not found space to treat of 

 the matter in a comprehensive way. It may be that 

 more has been written upon this subject elsewhere than 

 it will quite bear ; but Mr. Evans has erred — if he has 

 erred — upon the absolutely opposite side. The astound- 

 ing statements of Herr Gatke upon the prodigious 

 velocity of the migration flight are, we are relieved to 

 find, not accepted ; in this matter Mr. Evans might well 

 have quoted Mr. Whitlock's interesting criticisms ol 

 Dr. Giitke's calculations. The remarkable way in which 

 individual birds are believed to return to the immediate 

 neighbourhood whence they set forth, is strikingly illus- 

 trated by an instance which we have recently seen quoted 

 though the event itself happened in the year 1834. .A 

 gentleman resident in Poland captured a stork and fixed 

 a collar round its neck made of iron, and inscribed 

 " Haec ciconia ex Polonia." The following year the 

 bird returned to his estate, but this time with a golden 

 collar bearing the inscription, " India cum donis mittit 

 ciconia polls.' We can answer for the accuracy of the 

 quotation, though the grammar seems to have suffered 

 on behalf of the scansion. 



The concluding remark which we have to offer about 

 Mr. Evans' book can contain nothing but praise. The 

 illustrations are most admirable, which indeed might be 

 expected from their author, Mr. (i. E. Lodge. The 

 majority, at any rale, are by that well-known draughts- 

 man ; some few are from other sources. F. E. B. 



A LADY'S DIGGINGS IN EGYPT. 

 The Temple of Mut in Asher : an Aeeount of the 

 Exeavation of the Temple and of lite Religious Repre- 

 sentations and Objects found therein^ as illustrating 

 the History of Egypt and t/ie main Religious Ideas of 

 tlie Egyptians. By Margaret Benson and Janet 

 Gourlay ; the inscriptions and translations by Percy 

 E. Newberry. Pp. xvi -I- 391. (London : John Murray. 

 IS99-) 



THE Egyptian goddess Mut was the wife of the god 

 Anien-Rfi and the second member of the great 

 Theban triad of deities, which consisted of herself, het 

 spouse Amen-Ra and her son Chonsu, the god of the 

 Moon. She symbolised nature and was regarded as the 

 mother of all things, as indeed her name Mut, " the 

 mother, ' implies. Her temple at Karnak, situated in a 

 district termed Aslicr by the ancient Egyptians, stood to 

 the southwest of the great temple of .■\men-Ra, to which 

 it was connected by a long avenue of sphinxes. .A little 

 to the north-west stands the temple of Chonsu, her son, 

 from which another avenue of sphinxes led to Luxor. 



