Supplement to "'Nature," October lo, 1907 



of primary education and the counter attractions of 

 cheap holiday outings and cigarettes, some of our 

 ploughboys grow up knowing the names of nearly all 

 the birds around them, without having even seen a 

 book on the subject ; and a generation ago such 

 knowledge was general among them. But there are 

 now many educated people, it appears, who would 

 like to be able to recognise the birds they meet with, 

 and having come to mature years without knowing 

 anything about them, seek for a short, if not a royal, 

 road to that knowledge. For them a pocket key has 

 been cunninglv devised by Mr. Price. In the second 

 part will be found short descriptions of about one 

 hundred of the commoner British birds, written 

 specially for the observer with a field-glass, dealing 

 therefore with habitat, flight, and characteristic 

 habits rather than with details of plumage. In order, 

 however, that it shall not be necessary to search this 

 part of the volume from beginning to end in the 

 process of identification, the first part has been devised. 

 In this part — which might be called an index — under 

 seven headings, each heading constituting a certain 

 locality, and in two columns (for winter and summer), 

 will be found lists of the species that are likely to be 

 seen in such localities. 



" By dividing these lists into groups according to 

 the size of the species, and by adding a two-word 

 description of each, it is hoped that but two or three 

 species will remain as possibilities. The descriptions 

 of these will then be found in the second part on the 

 page indicated." 



The idea has been very well carried out, and we are 

 sure the little book will be a help to those for whose 

 use it is intended ; but we confess to having our doubts 

 as to whether anyone who wants such a key for use in 

 the field will ever know his birds as well as our 

 ploughboys. The single illustration explains the 

 meaning of the names of the different portions of a 

 bird's plumage. 



(3) Mr. Finn's stouter volume is also intended to 

 help the beginner to identify birds, but the subject is 

 dealt with more fully therein. It is a handbook, not 

 a key, although the descriptions here again are of the 

 bird as it catches the eye at a distance as well as 

 close at hand — its general colour, shape, and peculiari- 

 ties of motion and cry. The book is primarily in- 

 tended to serve as a means of identification of the 

 birds most conspicuous in life or literature, free or 

 in captivity in this country; and the easiest method 

 of learning to know birds, in the author's experience, 

 is to identify those which first catch the eye, and 

 then learn their relations. To this end he has ar- 

 ranged the species dealt with according to the circum- 

 stances under which they are likely to be first met 

 with. As most of his readers will be more interested 

 in " the bird in the bush " than in that in the hand, 

 he has cut the descriptions of the species as short as 

 possible, so as to facilitate identification. Here again 

 the birds are grouped according to their locality, the 

 chapters being subdivided in some cases for summer 

 and winter. The complete and pleasing, though con- 

 cise, account of the general life habits of the different 

 birds (and the nesting habits of those that breed in 

 NO. 1980, VOL. 76] 



this country) seems well calculated to help the novice 

 to acquire the knowledge he desires. There are direc- 

 tions for encouraging the presence of desirable birds, 

 by the provision of nesting-bo.Kes, food, and water, as 

 well as for the rearing up of orphaned or deserted 

 young birds — directions which will, of course, be quite 

 as useful for birds taken out of the nest. Finally, to 

 give the reader some idea of classification, at the end 

 of the book there are enumerated and briefly diagnosed 

 all the natural families of birds occurring in our 

 islands, even where these are only represented by 

 casual stragglers. 



For the dozen coloured plates we have the highest 

 praise. Many of the black and white illustrations are 

 most interesting and novel, e.g. one showing the 

 pieculiar appearance of pea-pods torn to pieces bv haw- 

 finches. But those of captive birds (so apt to look 

 ragged and dejected) and stuffed groups are not 

 always so happy. We hardly think the photographs 

 of the "house martin," the missel thrush and field- 

 fare can be much aid to identification, nor can we, by 

 the way, fall in with the statement that the martin 

 seems more common in England than the swallow 

 nowadays. But we do not know where else you can 

 get so many good and interesting bird-pictures for so 

 little money. 



(4) Those who are interested in the economic aspect 

 of ornithology, especially the good, or harm, done by 

 birds in the course of the satisfaction of their hunger 

 will profit by a perusal of Mr. Hall's careful treat- 

 ment of the subject in his account of some of the 

 birds of southern ."Xustralia. The book will be wel- 

 comed also by those who would like to get some idea 

 of what manner of birds inhabit the far distant island 

 continent, and learn something of their habits. There 

 is, of course, a raven, crow, and kestrel, which for 

 some reason, like the Americans, tliev will call a 

 sparrow hawk. But the birds on the whole are so 

 utterly different from ours that it comes as a surprise 

 to find a meadow pipit of the same genus as ours, 

 and it is interesting to compare the habits of the two 

 birds. There are no less than six kinds of cuckoo in 

 South Australia, but they do not call " cuckoo," and 

 their notes do not in the slightest degree resemble 

 those of our northern bird — they are described as high- 

 sounding, as weird, and as melancholy. But these 

 cuckoos are just as troublesome to their small neigh- 

 bours, " upsetting hundreds of family arrangements." 

 The pallid cuckoo chooses open nests like that of the 

 fantail for this purpose ; the other species distribute 

 their favours among the wide, open, cup-shaped nests 

 and those with a side entrance. The fan-tailed species 

 and two bronze species choose 75 per cent, of dome- 

 shaped nests, while the square-tailed cuckoo is con- 

 tent with 50 percent., and the remaining half of open 

 nests. The whole of the account of the cuckoos is 

 most interesting, and the home life of some of our 

 best-known cage-parrots may be learned in this 

 pleasant little book. It concludes with some account 

 of birds which have been introduced. The goldfinch 

 and song thrush are naturally well spoken of; nothing 

 bad is yet known there about the greenfinch or the 

 skylark, .-uid the blackbird's character is much what it 



