AvGUST 22, I912| 
NATURE 637 
a 
funktion,” by Prof. E. Landau, of Géttingen; | 
“The dynamics of radiation,” by Sir J. Larmor ; 
“The place of mathematics in engineering prac- 
tice,’ by Sir W. H. White. The formal opening 
meeting is to take place this morning, and the 
formal concluding meeting on the evening of 
August 27. 
Besides the lectures and sectional meetings there 
will be many opportunities for social intercourse 
afforded by evening receptions, afternoon parties, 
and excursions. On the evening of Wednesday, 
August 21, the members of the congress were 
received in the Combination Room and Hall of St. 
John’s College by Sir George Darwin, President 
of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and Mr. 
R. F. Scott, Vice-Chancellor of the University. 
On the evening of Friday, August 23, they will 
be received at the Fitzwilliam Museum by Lord 
Rayleigh, the Chancellor of the University. On 
Sunday afternoon, August 25, the organising com- 
mittee will receive the members in the gardens 
of Christ’s College, and in the evening an organ 
recital will be given in King’s College Chapel; 
also on Monday evening, August 26, there will 
be a reception in Trinity College by the master 
and fellows. Facilities will be given for visits 
to the works of the Cambridge Scientific Instru- 
ment-making Company, visitors to which will be 
entertained by Mrs. Horace Darwin, and to the 
University Observatory, visitors to which will be 
entertained by Mrs. Newall. An excursion has 
been organised to Ely on the Monday afternoon, 
and for the day after the concluding meeting visits 
are arranged to Oxford and Hatfield. A com- 
mittee of ladies, under the presidency of Lady | 
Darwin, has issued a very complete and varied 
programme of visits to objects of interest in Cam- 
bridge for those ladies who accompany members 
of the congress and may not wish to attend the 
sectional meetings. : 
A large concourse is expected, more than 600 
persons having already joined or indicated their 
intention of joining. There are large representa- 
tions from practically all the countries of Europe, 
the United States, the British Dominions beyond 
the seas, Japan, Mexico, and various States of 
South America. The assembly will thus be truly 
cosmopolitan, and it is to be hoped that it may 
prove not less fruitful than the previous assem- 
blies in other countries. 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 
ics — first part of Mr. Stonham’s beautiful work 
on British Birds + was noticed in these pages 
on its appearance, and the book has now been com- 
pleted in twenty parts, forming five handsome 
volumes printed on pure rag paper, which is not 
liable to decay or to become discoloured. The 
beautiful drawings, remarkable for their softness 
and delicacy, go a long way, at all events, to 
justify the publishers’ claim in the prospectus of 
the work that they are far superior to anything 
1 “Phe Birds of the British Islands." By Charles Stonham, C.M.G. 
With illustrations by Lilian M. Medland. In 20 parts. (London: Grant 
Richards, Ltd., Carlton Street, rgo6-rgrr). Price 7s. 6d. net each part. 
NO. 2234, VOL. 89] 
of the kind yet produced in this country. Asa 
rule, the adult male only of each species is figured, 
but when the sexes differ in any appreciable degree 
separate drawings are given. Further, there are 
additional plates of those nestlings and young 
birds (as, for example, some waders and gulls) 
the appearance and plumage of which call for 
especial illustration, and some winter plumages 
are given. 
| The same plan is followed in regard to any par- 
ticular points of plumage, such as the outspread 
| wing or tail, which the ordinary drawing does not 
| show. Black and white illustration naturally lends 
itself with most success to those species which 
_have sharply contrasted colours, but it is only in 
| the case of some of those birds which have a large 
| amount of bright chestnut or rufous in their 
plumage that we have noticed a failure to represent 
the colour effect adequately. For instance, the 
| knot in summer (PI. 253) is surely much too light- 
coloured, and gives little indication of the deep 
reddish chestnut underparts. The same may be 
| said of the bar-tailed godwit in summer dress. 
Representing the partridge with the crown of its 
head of a plain pale colour may have been due 
possibly to some similar cause. One might, of 
course, criticise in some other cases minor items 
from the point of view of the scientific ornithologist, 
| but on the whole there is nothing but high praise 
for the drawings, and they will entirely satisfy 
those to whom the work will mainly appeal, viz. 
the lover of birds, to whom, as to the author him- 
| self, they have long afforded so much pleasure and 
| recreation. 
' It would be invidious to point to any plates 
especially remarkable for their beauty, but all 
bird-lovers, according to their individual taste, will 
surely, as we have done, find some which will be 
to them a joy for ever. But there are some of 
especial interest and value. Among these may be 
| mentioned that of five ruffs in their varied liveries, 
and the remarkable attitudes assumed by them 
when on the “hill,” and the downy nestling of the 
bar-tailed godwit, drawn from the specimen 
obtained by Mr. Popham on the Yenesei. More- 
over, visitors to the Zoological Gardens in London 
in 1907 will be deeply grateful to the artist for 
preserving the pretty and interesting scene of the 
| avocet nestling her young one in her own peculiar 
manner. 
Though the letterpress is necessarily largely a 
compilation, the author has had very considerable 
experience as a field observer, and his personal 
observations will be read with great interest, not 
| the less because the personal experiences of one 
field ornithologist so often differ a little from those 
of another; we cannot have too many of these 
_ original remarks, for herein lies much of the charm 
of the study. Here, for instance—to refer to one 
little thing only—we find that the clutch of eggs 
of the corn and yellow buntings is said to number 
from four to six; yet other observers (whose expe- 
rience was perhaps gained in a different part of 
| the country) we know would put the usual number 
at three or four only. The descriptions of the 
