578 



Reviews and Book Notices. 



The Love of Nature among the Romans. By Sir Archibald Geikie, 

 K.C.B., etc. London : John Murray, 1912, 394 pp., 9/- net. 



In this truly charming volume, the President of the Royal Society 

 deals in his characteristically delightful fashion with nature study during" 

 the later decades of the Roman Republic and the first century of the 

 Empire. At that early period it might at first be thought that little would 

 have been known, and that even less record of that little would be avail- 

 able. But Sir Archibald, although he has gone thoroughly into the matter 

 (as indeed he does with anything he undertakes), proves that even after he 

 has dealt with the subject to considerable length, it is not exhausted. 

 The volume is really founded on the author's presidential address to the 

 Classical Association, and, unusual though the subject was to that august 

 body, we will undertake to say that Sir Archibald's address was as lucid 

 and learned, and as fascinating to its members, as any address delivered 

 to the Association. The author opines that ' the classical scholar who 

 may look over its pages will probably' find in them nothing with which 

 he is not already familiar, though it may not have occurred to him to collect 

 and compare the scattered passages in Latin authors which reveal how 

 far and in what ways these writers were influenced by the features of the 

 external world.' To the ordinary reader, however, he hopes the book 

 may be of some interest ' to see the familiar aspects of Nature as they 

 appeared to Roman eyes and appealed to Roman hearts nineteen hundred 

 years ago.' 



Studies in Bird Migration. By W. Eagle Clarke. London : Gumey 

 and Jackson, 1912, 2 vols., pp. 339 and 354, 18/- net. 



We should like to sincerely congratulate our friend Mr. Eagle Clarke, 

 a past-president of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, upon the completion 

 of this great work. From the earliest times the questions arising in con- 

 nection with the migrations of birds have occupied the attention of nat- 

 uralists and others, and for a considerable time, and particularly in recent 

 years, has the question been prominently before the scientific world. There 

 have been books and papers and addresses innumerable, and theories 

 almost as many, but the subject has wanted more careful thought, the 

 various views have required analysing, and the multifarious records and 

 observations, digesting and summarising. Few had the necessary ornith- 

 ological knowledge and experience to undertake the task in a thorough 

 and comprehensive manner. None, except the author, had spent the 

 enormous amount of time in lonely lighthouses and lightships necessary 

 to get a thorough grasp of the problems connected with the extraordinary 

 movements of the birds. Cordeaux, another past-president of the York- 

 shire Union, first inspired the author to take an interest in bird migration. 

 Would that he were still with us to share our pleasure at the completion 

 of the present work. In 1S83, Mr. Eagle Clarke was elected a member of 

 the British Association Committee on Bird Migration, and, as our readers 

 will recollect, he was entrusted with the preparation of the five reports 

 embodying the results of that great enquiry. Still, the author felt that 

 there were many directions in which information was wanted, and to 

 gain this object he spent no fewer than forty seven weeks in various 

 lighthouses and in a light-ship, and fourteen weeks on the remote islands 

 of St. Kilda, and Ushant. Mr. Eagle Clarke first gives a good account of 

 ancient and antiquated views upon the subject, and an excellent summary 

 of the various inodern views. In addition to his descriptions of his 

 sojourns at his various stations of obversation, etc., he has chapters on 

 the migration of the more important species of birds. There are twenty- 

 six chapters in all, and many valuable maps and illustrations. We can 

 safely say that no one is more competent to write a work on bird migration 

 than is our author, and he has done his work well. \\'hile it may be that 

 the last word on the subject of bird migration has not been said, there 

 can be no doubt that no future worker will be competent to discuss the 

 question without first having consulted these two magnificent volumes. 



Naturalist,, 



