Suppletftent to "Nature," October lo, 1907 



before us fulfils these conditions we will leave our 

 readers to judge for themselves after perusal of the 

 following extracts and comments. 



In the chapter headed, not very happily, " A Minia- 

 ture British Fauna," it is stated (p. 109) that " British 

 voles are diminutive beavers "; while on the next page 

 we are told that there are three British species of these 

 rodents — the water-vole, field-vole, and banU-vole. 

 Now lo call the water-rat, or water-vole, a beaver is 

 bad enough, but to include the short-tailed field-mice, 

 or field-voles, under the same term is a positive 

 absurdity. With such lack of knowledge it is not 

 surprising to find the authors completely ignorant of 

 the existence of the Skomer Island and Orkney voles. 

 Again, it is a little late in the day to refer (pp. 113-114) 

 to the bank-vole as having only recently been 

 recognised as a species, especially when mention is 

 made of Yarrell's description of it " as lately as 1832." 

 While excluding " voles," the authors class the dor- 

 mouse among mice, stating that we have four repre- 

 sentatives of that group — the dormouse, the harvest- 

 mouse, the long-tailed field-mouse, and the house- 

 mouse. What may be the authors' views as to the 

 systematic position of rats we dare not venture to 

 guess ! 



In connection with mice, we may refer to the state- 

 ment (p. 109) that, " with one exception (the harvest- 

 mouse), the long-tailed field-mouse is the smallest 

 British mammal," the shrew-mice being totally for- 

 gotten ! .As regards the matter of sizes of animals 

 the authors are, indeed, very casual, as on p. 249 they 

 tell us that the rock-dove is the smallest of the British 

 pigeons, although they include in that group the 

 turtle-dove, as they likewise do the passenger-pigeon ! 



Other instances of carelessness or want of know- 

 ledge occur in the statement that the fur of the 

 water-shrew is warm brown (p. no), and the mention 

 of silver fox where white fox is obviously intended 

 (p. 37). If true, the statement that otters feed mainly 

 on crayfish (p. loi) is new to us ; while we are startled 

 by the suggestion on p. 67 that British cuckoos occa- 

 sionally incubate and hatch their eggs. In using the 

 term loon (p. 206) to designate the grebes, the reader 

 should have been informed that it is generally applied 

 to the divers ; or if that information was considered 

 superfluous, it was surely unnecessarv to suggest 

 (p. 101) that most persons are ignorant of the fact 

 that owls reject the waste portions of their food in 

 the form of pellets. 



Owing to its many errors the naturalist will be 

 very disappointed with the volume; while the nature- 

 student who desires to use it as a source of inform- 

 ation will find that he has much to unlearn. 



The illustrations of scenery and of nests of birds 

 in their natural situations are for the most part good, 

 and many of them excellent. As lor the photographs 

 of stuffed birds among pseudo-natural scenery, per- 

 haps the less said the better; but if such artificial 

 pictures are used, it would be well to see that the toes 

 of the birds are made to grasp the boughs on which 

 they are placed, instead of sticking out in an aimless 

 manner, as in the photograph of the turtle-dove 

 facing p. 252. R. L. 



NO. 1980, VOL. 76] 



POPULAR ORNITHOLOGY. 

 (i) Birds I have Ktioum. By Arthur H. Beavan. 

 Pp. 256; illustrated. (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 

 n.d.) Price 2s. 



(2) .1 Ready Aid to Distiiii;uish the Commoner Wild 

 Birds of Great Britain. By David T. Price. Pp. 62. 

 (London : Gurney and Jackson, 1907.) Price i.t. 

 net. 



(3) Birds of the Countryside : a Handbook of Familiar 

 British Birds. By Frank Finn. Pp. xvi-l-igo; 

 illustrated. (London : Hutchinson and Co., 1907.) 

 Price 5.';. net. 



(4) The Useful Birds of .Southern Australia. By 

 Robert Hall. Pp. xvi + 306; illustrated. (Mel- 

 bourne : T. C. Lothian, 1907.) Price 35. 6d. 



(i) 'T'H.M' there is an increasing interest taken in 

 -L wild birds by amateurs is abundantly proved 

 by the steady stream of books on the subject intended 

 for the use of beginners which issues from the pub- 

 lishers. Perhaps there is no better way of fostering 

 their interest than relating one's lifelong experience 

 of birds, and Mr. Beavan has done this very pleasantly 

 in " Birds I have Known." Beginning with his child- 

 hood, when he lived in a " dreary London square " 

 which could not repress his ornithological instincts — 

 these finding an outlet in the parks, rare visits to the 

 Zoo, and to Margate, where he made the acquaintance 

 of a living gull — the author passes on to his school- 

 days. They were schooldays under the old, hard 

 system. To read of them should make the modern 

 boy contented with his lot, although he tnay perhaps 

 long for the greater amount of liberty and the greater 

 opportunities for training the powers of observation 

 enjoyed by boys before games were put before every- 

 thing else. But he will follow with delight the 

 author's adventures in search of birds' nests, and hi< 

 experiences with tame hawks and owls, &c. Later. 

 in .the holidays, this particular boy found his way to 

 Leadenhall Market, with its then rich show of ruffs 

 and reeves, avocets, godwits, and rare waterfowl, at 

 which he used to gaze long and admiringly. Alto- 

 gether the progress of the young ornithologist, with 

 the real, keen love of birds in him, making the best 

 of not very favourable conditions, is admirably traced. 

 But the author soon went to sea, and succeedin;^ 

 chapters take us among ocean birds, and recount his 

 experiences of birds " during many years in many 

 lands and over many seas." Here he deals " with 

 Nature like an open book," "uncomplicated by 

 references to scientific theories as to the origin and 

 distribution of species." .And very good reading these 

 chapters are, although home-staying bird-lovers may 

 find their chief pleasure in those upon Cornish and 

 London birds. But wherever made, the personal ob- 

 servations of a keen bird-man are always worth read- 

 ing by his fellows, and really are a great help to the 

 younger ones. Mr. Beavan has certainly known a 

 great many birds. The frontispiece is a reproduction 

 of one of Wolf's incomparably beautiful pictures of 

 eagles. The rest of the illustrations .seem to be 

 original, but will hardly escape criticism to-dav. 

 (2) Even nowadays, under the narrowing influence 



