January 31, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



183 



mains of a big carp, the same fish which the 

 author on that very day saw caught in a dis- 

 tant pond and carried by the old bird to 

 its aerie; white-crowned sparrows; bluebirds 

 perched on a line, and especially the picture 

 of a young bluebird trying to seize food from 

 its parent; warbling vireos feeding their 

 young and standing at inspection, as well as 

 some of the heron and eaglet pictures. Many 

 which were taken on a five-by-seven plate 

 have been trimmed rather too close in order 

 to crowd them on the page, even to the clip- 

 ping of a bird's wing or tail, or the scamping 

 of its nest. Most of the illustrations are of 

 immature birds or of adults bringing food to 

 their young, whether in or out of the nest; 

 nine only show the feeding process. There 

 are no strictly serial pictures of either growth 

 or activities, which approach biological com- 

 pleteness, in any of the species treated. The 

 editor of a well-known magazine once rejected 

 some pictures of little naked cedarbirds on the 

 ground that they would be "positively objec- 

 tionable " to a certain class of readers, and 

 possibly the same class of readers would ob- 

 ject to illustrations of serial activities. At 

 all events, such pictures would add to the in- 

 terest and value of any work, and would not 

 injure its sale ; so far as nest-life is concerned, 

 they should include: the parent bringing in 

 the food, the pause at the nest which calls 

 forth the initial feeding reaction of the young, 

 placing the food in the throat of the nestling, 

 and watching for the response— which amounts 

 to testing the throats of the young, and giving 

 the food to those which can swallow it — stand- 

 ing at inspection, and cleaning the nest. 

 When both birds come to the nest together 

 they should be shown as a complete family 

 group or unit. It may be added that such 

 completeness should be aimed at, even if it 

 can seldom be attained. Of the so-called 

 " snapping " of isolated scenes in and about 

 the nest a good deal has already been done, 

 and in many cases to little purpose. The pho- 

 tographer should primarily be the student who 

 aims to portray the whole behavior — the serial 

 acts and attitudes of the adult and young. 

 Whoever does this, even in the case of a few 

 species, will make a most noteworthy con- 



tribution, whether from the popular or the 

 scientific point of view. 



Mr. Finley's twenty-one chapters deal suc- 

 cessively with different families or species of 

 birds,, and he tells his story in a bright and 

 entertaining manner. Aside from certain 

 mannerisms, and the occasional tendency to 

 pile up and mix his metaphors, the author 

 writes well and effectively. In a single para- 

 graph the rufous hummingbird is likened to 

 " a flying fleck of a rainbow," a " flash from 

 a whirling mirror," a " little shooting star 

 . . . that hummed as well as glowed," to the 

 " glint of real live sunshine," to " a minute 

 ethereal sprite," and to " a mite that possesses 

 the tiniest soul in feathers." In still another 

 paragraph the hummer's flight is " like the 

 rush of a rocket," " a red meteor," but " in- 

 stead of striking with a burst of flying sparks, 

 he veered just above the bushes with a sound 

 like the lash of a whip drawn softly through 

 the air." Again he " svrang back and forth 

 like a comet in his orbit." This puts an un- 

 fair strain on the reputation of so small a 

 bird, and we should prefer to eliminate some 

 of the " papas," " mamas," " babies," " bant- 

 lings," " marriages " and the like. The author 

 is at his best in the chapters on the larger 

 birds, the hawk, the owl, the crow, the heron 

 and the eagle. These are all very interesting 

 and abound in quotable passages. 



Of the temper of the barn owlet he says: 

 " Generally he sat with his chin resting on 

 his chest like a broken-down lavpyer. Once, 

 when the photographer was least expecting it, 

 he dropped on to his trousers leg as lightly 

 as a feather, but with the strength and ten- 

 acity of a mad bull-pup. The claws sank 

 through to the flesh, and before they could be 

 pried loose they had drawn blood in three 

 places." "In a Heron Village" this vivid 

 picture is found : " When I first climbed in 

 among the nests of a smaller tree with my 

 camera, it sounded as if I were in the midst 

 of a gigantic hen-house. Some of the birds 

 were clucking over their eggs that were soon 

 to be hatched; others were cackling over 

 newly-laid eggs and squawking at being dis- 

 turbed ; others were wrangling and squabbling, 

 so that there was a continual clattering fuss 



