May 21, iqc8] 



NATURE 



57. 



difference existed between the temperature of tlie iso- 

 thermal layer as measured on January 2 and 3. 



Generally speaking, many improvements of the 

 methods and instruments are doubtless still required, 

 but it must be remembered that the work in England 

 was commenced less than a year ago, and perfection 

 can hardly be expected within so short a time. 



J. E. Petavel. 



HOME AND FOREIGN BIRD-LIFE.' 



THE authors of these three excellent little works 

 are evidently enthusiastic bird-lovers and accom- 

 plished and patient observers. In the case of the first 

 two, at any rate, their highest enjoyment appears, in- 

 deed, to consist in sitting for hours watching the 

 movements and ways of their feathered favourites. 

 Moreover, either they or their friends are well accom- 

 plished in the use of the camera, and they have thereby 

 been enabled to make permanent records of manv of 

 the fascinating sights that have come under their ob- 

 servation for the benefit of those 

 who have neither their patience nor 

 their opportunities. 



Mr. Gordon's favourite species 

 appear to be the golden eagle and 

 the ptarmigan, the photographs of 

 both of which are claimed to be 

 nearly, if not indeed completelv. 

 unique. To obtain the picture of 

 the golden eagle's eyrie the author 

 underwent considerable difficulty 

 not unmingled with danger, while 

 peril of another type was experi- 

 enced when a fog suddenly de- 

 scended as he was wandering 

 among snow-clad precipices in 

 search of ptarmigan. The photo- 

 graphs have therefore more than 

 their apparent face-value, which is 

 of itself considerable. Where all 

 are interesting it is difficult (o 

 make a selection, although per- 

 sonally we have been much in- 

 terested in the series of photographs 

 of a young golden eagle at various 

 stages of growth, one of which is 

 here reproduced. 



Mr. Charles Barrett, in " Froni 

 Range to Sea," covers comparatively new ground, 

 .md has attempted to accomplish for some of 

 the birds of Australia what has already been 

 done for those of our own islands. It must be 

 confessed, however, that the illustrations in his 

 booklet (whether from the fault of the photo- 

 graphs themselves, of the reproductions, or of 

 the printer we cannot say) are by no means up 

 lo the level of those in some books of English bird- 

 life _ In the tiny and exquisitely built nests of such 

 species as the rufous and the white-shafted fantail, 

 with the parent-bird in attendance, the author has 

 subjects quite different from any met with in this 

 country, and in portraying these novelties he appears 

 to have availed himself to the full of his opportunities. 

 The nest of the lyre-bird forms, perhaps, a still more 

 striking subject, which was the scene of an altogether 



' "Birds of the Loch and Mountain." By Selon P. Gordin. Pp. xvi 

 + 181 ; illustrated. (London: Cassell and Co., Ltd., 1907.) Price 7s. 6d. 

 net. 



"From Range to Sea ; a Bird-lover's Ways." By C. Barrett. Pp.62: 

 illustrated. (Melbourne : T. C. Lothian, 1907.) Price if. 



" Sketches of South African Bird-life." By A. Haagner and R. H. Ivy. 

 Pp. x.\iv+i8i; illustrated. (London : R. H. Porter, tqo?.) Price 20.1-. net- 



unexpected -incident. " On inserting my hand in the 

 nest," writes the author, " a piercing cry, like the 

 whistle of a steam-engine, rang down the gully. It 

 was difficult to realise that the half-fledged lyre-bird 

 which I could feel inside the nest was the cause of 

 this unearthly clamour." 



The present booklet is an excellent beginning in 

 Australian bird-photog-raphy, and we shall look in the 

 future for more work in the same style from the 

 author and his artist, Mr. Mattingley. 



The book standing third on our list is of a some- 

 what different type from either of the two already 

 noticed, presenting in some degree an approximation 

 to a popular history of South African birds generally. 

 It may serve, in fact, as a kind of popular represen- 

 tative of the volumes on birds in the " Fauna of 

 .South Africa," and should be of the greatest value to 

 a large number of persons who for one reason or 

 another are unable to refer to the latter. Indeed, bv 

 means of the numerous excellent photographs with 

 which it is illustrated, this volume will enable the 

 sportsman and amateur naturalist in South Africa to 



Fig. I.— Golden E.igle 

 one made by parent 



NO. 2012, VOL. 78] 



six weeks old. The bird fell from the original eyrie and is here shown in 

 birds at the foot of the cliff. From " Birds of ihe Loch and Mountain." 



determine without any great difficulty a very con- 

 siderable proportion of the birds with which he may 

 be brought in contact. The illustrations (of which 

 a sample is reproduced) are for the most part excel- 

 lent, while the text contains a sufficient amount of 

 anecdote and local colouring to redeem it from the 

 charge of dulness. 



Personally we have found special interest in the 

 author's account of the eggs and parasitic habits of 

 the honey-guides and cuckoos. Honey-guides, it 

 appears, actually storm the breeding-holes of the 

 species upon which they are parasitic, as was wit- 

 nessed by the author in the case of a pair of barbels, 

 which offered a fierce resistance to the intruder. As 

 regards cuckoos, it is absolutely certain that in South 

 Africa these birds must generally lay their eggs on 

 the ground and transport them in their beaks to the 

 foreign nests, which they are too large to enter. All 

 the African cuckoos normally lay coloured eggs, but 

 when they lay in nests of species with white eggs, 

 their own eggs are also often white. In the case of 

 the golden cuckoo the author states that " a pure 

 white (:^^ was taken from the oviduct of a female 



