SliHTEMBER 2.', I 9 I o] 



NATURE 



Z^7 



.-ipplied to one of the smaller groups. Mainly on the 

 i^round of the exceptional hairiness observable in the 

 Xambutiri Brahmans, he is inclined to accept the 

 brilliant suggestion made by Dr. Rivers from a study 

 of their emigrations preserved by the tribe, that the 

 'I'odas are comparatively new arrivals in the Nilgiri 

 |)lateau, and that they are connected in race with the 

 .Malabar group of Brahmans. Mr. Thurston records 

 .1 curious fact which escaped the observation of Dr. 

 Rivers, that their extreme reverence for the herd of 

 sacred buffaloes is shown by the rule that when the 

 animals are driven from one grazing ground to 

 another, the women of the tribe are not permitted lo 

 tread upon the track of the holy beasts, but must be 

 lifted over it bv the men of the tribe. 



In spite of the imperfections in the literary arrange- 

 ment of his work, to which we have directed attention. 

 Mr. Thurston's volumes constitute, 

 record of varied phases of south 

 Indian tribal life, the traditions, 

 manners, and customs of the people. 

 Though in some respects it may be 

 corrected or supplemented by future 

 research, it will long retain its 

 value as an example of out-of-door 

 investigation, and will remain a 

 veritable mine of information, which 

 will be of value to his fellow-officers 

 in acquiring a knowledge of the 

 people, and a storehouse from which 

 the armchair ethnologist will draw 

 abundant facts of the highest value 

 and interest. 



monument:i 



The volume begins with a brief but sufficient sum- 

 mary of the general structure of birds, and proceeds 

 to consider their phylogeny, their relationship to 

 reptiles, and their development from climbing arboreal 

 forms to those endowed with full powers of .fligh'. 

 The writer's views on this part of the subject ''are 

 clearly shown by a "genealogical tree," while a wood- 

 cut is given of one of the hvpothetical primitive tvpes, 

 or pro-aves. 



From the ancestral forms of birds we pass on to a 

 sketch of their present distribution and of the gener- 

 ally accepted zoo-geographical regions. Mr. Pycraft 

 accepts the theory that the entire class originated 

 in the northern hemisphere, with the possible excep- 

 tion of the Sphenisci; but the close connection of the 

 latter in his tree of descent with the decidedly northern 

 Colymbi seems to run counter to this ccmtention. 



Environment and its ennts ncM i.niii. undrr dis- 



.4 HISTORY OF BIRDS.' 



OF the series of four volumes to 

 be published under the title of 

 ■■.\nimal Lite: an Evolutionary 

 Xatural History," the editor, Mr. 

 Pycraft, has himself contributed 

 lliat on birds. The reader will at 

 once be struck by two facts, first, 

 that the subject is treated from the 

 point of view of the evolutionist, as 

 opposed to that of the systematist, 

 and, secondly, that the author is 

 never satisfied until he has inquired 

 nito, and, if possible, explained, the 

 various phenomena that meet the 

 eye of the ornithologist. .As he tells 

 us in his preface, and as we gather 

 from the excellent introduction by Imii. 



-Sir Ray Lankester, which practically 

 summarises the whole work, the study of birds is 

 here presented as one of living organism's, moulded in 

 part by an inherent constitution, and in part bv the 

 struggle for existence. 



.\ great array of facts is marshalled in ordfr before 

 us, and presented in attractive fashion, while Mr. 

 Pycraft's well-known skill is particularly evident in 

 tlie osteology and pterylography ; but we must confess 

 that he seems to us somewhat hard upon the 

 "■ field-naturalist," the results of whose labours he 

 terms "a pitifully small gain to science." It is true 

 that such an one often lacks the training or oppor- 

 tunity necessary for scientific research, but his 

 (province is more especially to supply material for the 

 work of his fellows, and must never forget that 

 Darwin and Wallace — not to mention later instances 

 — were essentially field-rlaturalists. 



Pycraft. With an inToducli^n bv 

 Pp. XXX+45S. (London : Mettiuen 



:*Sifc, 



1 "A Histo.yof Birds." Bv W. F 

 ir Ray Lankester, K.C.B,, F.R.S. 

 nd Co., igio.) Price loj. 6</. net. 



NO. 2134, VOL. 84] 



cussion, with selected examples of adaptation to the 

 surroundings. Here we find the view definitely 

 adopted that a moist atmosphere leads to darker pig- 

 mentation and a dry atmosphere to lighter tints, but 

 we are not inclined to follow our author implicitly here 

 without further oroof. 



Migration is always an interesting subject, and we 

 concur with Mr. Pycraft in paying little attention to 

 very precise "lines of flight"; whether, however, he is 

 right in holding that the trend of migration is due 

 north and south, apart from physical obstructions, is 

 a much more debatable question. 



The interrelations of birds and other animals, and 

 their connections with plants, form the subject-matter 

 of three well-written chapters, while an account of the 

 relations between the se.xes is not only instructive in 

 itself, but naturally leads us on to the theory of sexual 

 selection. The "displays" of various species, the 

 pugnacity of the males, and so forth, are set forth at 

 due length ; but, on the whole, our author minimises 



