80 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



BOOK NOTICE. 



The Insectivorous Birds of Victoria. By Robert Hall. 



Melbourne, 1900. 

 A useful handbook to the insectivorous birds of Victoria, from 

 the pen of Mr. Robert Hall, whose " Key to the Birds of Aus- 

 tralia and Tasmania " was recently reviewed in these pages, has 

 just been issued from the press. The volume extends to 260 

 pages, and is divided into five parts, as follows : — (1) Birds ex- 

 clusively insectivorous, or mostly so, under which 69 species are 

 grouped ; (2) birds insectivorous and vermin-destroying, 7 

 species ; (3) birds insectivorous and granivorous (beneficial), 7 

 species ; (4) birds insectivorous and frugivorous (more or less 

 useful), 8 species ; and (5) birds offensive in certain seasons to 

 fruit-growers and agriculturists, 4 species. The birds are arranged 

 under the A. A. A. S. vernacular names, then follow the more 

 commonly used local names (if any), the scientific name with its 

 pronunciation and derivation — an excellent innovation in such 

 a book. Reference is then made to the figure of the bird in 

 Gould's " Birds of Australia," followed by the geographical dis- 

 tribution in Australia and a key to the species. General remarks on 

 the habits or peculiarities of the birds, many of which are reprinted 

 from these pages, are given, together with brief descriptions of the 

 nests and eggs. Nearly every article is illustrated by a reduced 

 figure of the bird or of its nest, or some other prominent feature. 

 Altogether some sixty illustrations are included in the work, 

 though many of them, being reproduced from Gould's plates, are 

 somewhat indistinct, but sufficient perhaps to distinguish the birds. 

 The rest of the illustrations are principally of nests, from photo- 

 graphs by the author, which have afforded some excellent half- 

 tone engravings. A short glossary of technical terms, a diagram- 

 matic figure of a quail with its various external parts named, and 

 a map of the geographical sub-regions help to complete a work 

 which should be of much value to the bird-lover as well as the 

 more practical man who has to consider the good or bad qualities 

 of the feathered life around him. On the final page is printed a 

 key to the coloured charts of the insectivorous birds and their 

 eggs in course of preparation by the Education Department for 

 the use of the State schools, and we understand that the Depart- 

 ment has arranged to take copies of the volume, so that it may be 

 used in the schools as an explanatory handbook to these charts. 

 This action is much to be commended, and we trust will tend to 

 increase the knowledge of our bird-life throughout the colony. 



Exchange. — Wanted, colonial (and British) tokens. Will give 

 British or Australian shells, books, or buy. — C. T. Musson, 

 Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Richmond, N.S.W. 



