lOO 



NA TURE 



[July 22, 1909 



it is the case. There is a classified list of the birds 

 contained in the book, and an index, so that every 

 tacility is given to those who try to learn birds' names 

 in this way. Illustrations of the eggs of a\i British- 

 breeding- birds appear in the sixteen plates devoted to 

 that part of the subject. Some of the plates of birds 

 are pleasing. But in the great majority of cases 

 the three-colour process has probably played sad tricks 

 with the colours, and some of the pictures are mis- 

 leading. Others make the bird-lover shudder ; for 

 horrible and appalling crudeness of colour their equal 

 would be hard to find. 



Young egg-collectors are also provided with a simple 

 guide to identify their finds.' A part of a larger 

 work, "The Young People's Nature-study Book," 

 it is in the form of a pocket-book, with blank leaves at 

 the end for making notes on the spot. The system of 

 this key is as follows. The nests are grouped under 

 the headings according to their locality and position. 

 Turning to the particular section to which a nest 

 belongs we find additional characteristics of the nests 

 and eggs described, which it is hoped should lead by 

 process of elimination to a correct result. The eggs 

 figured on the four coloured plates are those most 

 generally confused. They can hardly be expected to 

 be very good, but will be useful. The introductory 

 remarks are instructive, and there are some photo- 

 graphs of nests. 



Mr. Vos has issued ' the second and third parts of 

 a description (illustrated) of the rambles of two friends 

 in search of birds' nests near London, comprising the 

 results of two seasons. They seem to have been 

 exceptionally fortunate in finding many interesting 

 birds and nests, and some which would not have been 

 expected. For instance, a snipe's nest almost within 

 earshot of Bow Bells seems wonderful. But even more 

 so in some respects, perhaps, is " a little colony of 

 three pairs " of carrion crows on a small island; for in 

 our experience, even where crows are common, it is 

 most unusual for these unsociable birds to nest in close 

 proximity to one another. The situation of one nest, 

 in the top of an elder-tree, about twenty-five feet from 

 the ground, seems unusual in a country where big trees 

 are to be found, and the egg described as about an 

 inch long was very small, an average crow's ^^^ 

 measuring an inch and three-quarters. The third 

 part concludes with a grouping of the birds mentioned 

 to aid in their recognition ; a description with figures 

 of the eggs; a synopsis, an alphabetical index of some 

 of the birds mentioned, and a general index. A 

 number of nests have been nicelv photographed for 

 the book, but the photographs of stuffed birds are 

 open to criticism, as is usual. 



Some of our best and really competent ornithologists 

 have from time to time considered the possibility or 

 advisability of editing Johns's classic,^ but they have 

 feared to tread. With regard to the present edition 

 we can only regret that a good old book has been 

 spoilt to some extent. Fortunately, not much has 

 been done to it, for although the editor claims to have 

 rectified statements as to the local distribution of 

 various species which, with the progress of time and 

 local changes, no longer apply, and to have added 

 facts here and there which he considered of some 



1 "The Young People's P.ird's-nest Chart. A Simple Guide to Identify the 

 Nests of Common British Birds." By the Rev. S. N. .Sedgwick. Pp. 6i ; 

 illustrated. (London ; Robert Culley, n.d.) Price is. net. 



- " Birds and their Nests and Eggs, found in and near Great Towns." By 

 George H. Vos, Second Series, pp. viii + 2i3 Third series, pp. xii+240. 

 (London : George Routledge and Sons, n.d ) Price i^. each. 



3 " British Birds in their Haunts." By the late Rev. C. A. Johns. 

 Edited, revised and annotated by J. A. Owen. Illustrated with 64 coloured 

 plates by William Forster with a Glossary of Common and Provincial 

 Names and of Technical Terms. Pp. xxvi+326, (London ; George Rout- 

 ledge and Sons, igog.) Price 75. 6^. net. 



NO. 2073, VOL. 81] 



value, this has been done so inadequately that it might 

 as well have been omitted altogether. There are some 

 birds, the Lapland bunting and shore lark, for instance, 

 the status of which on the British list has entirely 

 altered since Johns wrote; yet the articles on these 

 species are left just as he wrote them. The editor has 

 also brought the scientific arrangement of the species 

 up to date. If this was to be done, more care should 

 have been taken, when the order and sequence of the 

 species was altered, to avoid absurdities consequent 

 upon careless revision of the articles. As it is, we are 

 told that the black tern is scarcely less aquatic than the 

 whimbrel ; that the name laughing gull is often given 

 to the common gull ; that the snow-bunting does not 

 confine itself so closely to the Arctic regions as our 

 homely reed-bunting, and various other absurdities, 

 all of which are due to the fact that the use of the 

 expression " the preceding species " has not been 

 revised. Harmless as are these misstatements to the 

 seasoned ornithologist, they might easily confuse the 

 beginner. A large number of species included in the 

 older editions of Johns's work have been omitted from 

 this edition, presumably because of their rarity. But 

 this weeding out, if done at all, should have been done 

 consistently, and on some definite plan. Here we find 

 that while the whole of the rarer herons, including the 

 little bittern (which is believed to have bred with us), 

 have been left out, the black stork, a very rare casual 

 visitor, has been retained. The spotted eagle, which 

 has only occurred on a very few occasions, is included, 

 while the blue-throated warbler, an annual visitor, some- 

 times in some numbers, has been cut out. Then why 

 include the little crake and not Baillon's crake? Why 

 the Pomatorhine skua and not Buffon's skua? The 

 black-necked grebe (which has bred in this country) is 

 not included in the text, though it is figured. But it 

 is needless to go further through the list, except to 

 say that one very rare bird, the lesser grey shrike, has 

 been inserted. The statement that the green sand- 

 piper breeds probably in wild parts of Surrey, Sussex, 

 and Hampshire has been added to Johns's account of 

 this bird because " the Son of the Marshes considers 

 that it does so." More definite information would 

 have been very desirable. There is a glossary of pro- 

 vincial names and of technical terms, and an index. 

 The old (and often unsurpassed) wood-cuts with which 

 we have been so long familiar no longer appear, and 

 we cannot but regret them. Instead we have sixty- 

 four original coloured plates, comprising 256 figures. 

 Many of these are absolutely charming and excellent 

 portraits of birds, and altogether they are by far the 

 best coloured pictures of our birds we have seen in a 

 book published at anything like so low a price as this. 

 The colour reproduction has been much more success- 

 ful than usual, for which the artist may well be pleased 

 and the publishers congratulated. 



The account of the principles and measures which 

 Baron von Berlepsch advocates ' for the exercise of a 

 rational protection of birds as carried out at Seebach 

 will be read with interest and profit by the many 

 people who like to feed the birds in winter and get 

 them to breed in boxes. The main features of the 

 protection here treated of are the provision of shelter 

 woods and plantations, pruning bushes and trees in 

 such a wav as to provide nesting situations, winter 

 feeding, and making up for the loss of natural nesting- 

 places of the breeders in holes consequent upon the 

 removal of old and decayed trees. With planting for 

 birds we are not so much concerned in England as 



1 " How to Attract and Protect Wild Birds." By Martin Hie'^emann, 

 translated by Emma S. Buchheim, with an introduction hy Her Grace the 

 Duchess of Bedford. Pp. 86 ; illustrated. (London ; Wilherby and Co., 

 1908.) Price IS. t(i. net. 



