I04 



NATURE 



[September 26, 1912 



THIS I)i)()k has been lon^^ expected, and it is 

 cerlainlv one worth waitinjj for. The author 

 remarks " that no country in the world is more 

 favourably situated than our own for witnessing; 

 the movements of migratory birds ; that there is 

 none in which the many phases of the phenomenon 

 are of n more varied nature ; and none in whicli 



the subject has received greater attention." To 

 which we venture to add that no one has made 

 so much use of these opportunities as Mr. Eagle 

 Clarke h;is done, and that no contribution to the 

 subject compares in importance with the work 

 which is summarised in the book before us. It is, 



I ".Studies in Bird Migration." Hy William Eaale Clarke. Vol. i., 

 pp. xvi+^23. Vol. ii., pp. vii + 346+25 plates. (London: Gtirney and 

 J.-ickson : Edinburgh : Oliver and lloyd. "iqii.) Price iR.t. net. 2 vols. 



.\o. 2239, VOL. go] 



indeed, a striking fact that although the book deals 

 almost wholly with the author's own work, it 

 has a completeness and scope far superior to that 

 of any other book on migration. It represents 

 the spare-time industry of a quarter of a century, 

 a remarkable persistence of observation under 

 difficult conditions on lighthouses, lightships, and 

 lone islands of the sea, a resolute courage in facing 

 and accomplisliing the dreary task of analysing 

 the immense masses of data 

 provided by the British 

 .Vssociation Committee, and 

 a remarkable restraint in 

 dealing with a fascinating 

 subject which has repeatedly- 

 proved itself fatally provoca- 

 tive of romantic treatment. 

 It is scarcely necessary to 

 say that the author has given 

 us from time to time instal- 

 ments of his results, but here 

 we have a revised and unified 

 presentation of the whole — 

 an achievement calling for 

 the warmest congratulation. 

 The plan of the book is 

 simple. After a pleasant 

 chapter on antiquated views 

 (such as the "hibernation" 

 theory, which lasted from 

 Aristotle to Gilbert White 

 and longer) and another — 

 tantalisingly short — on some 

 modern views, the author 

 plunges in median res. He 

 classifies our migratory birds 

 — summer visitors, partial 

 migrants, winter visitors, 

 and birds of passage — gives 

 a summary of the move- 

 ments of these several groups 

 under their seasons, and 

 indicates in a general way 

 — the only possible way as 

 yet — whence they come to us 

 and whither they go from 

 us. The next chapter, on 

 "The Geographical Aspects 

 of British Bird-Migration," 

 is a masterly account of 

 a very complicated sub- 

 ject, with rather more in- 

 sistence on definite routes 

 than we have been accus- 



„ tomed to from recent 



writers. Perhaps a more 

 critical attitude might have been adopted tow.-trds 

 the earlier work of Palmen and others. 



The next three chapters, which are de\oted to 

 " Round the Year among British Migratory Birds," 

 bring out very clearly the contrasts between the 

 spring, autumn and winter movements, and there 

 are two valuable appendices giving the dates of 

 the arrivals and departures of the various species. 

 The last general chapter deals with the vexed 



