iSoolt jBtetDS and 9^etiicto2; 



With Nature and a Camera. By Rich- 

 ard Kearton, F. Z. S. Illustrated by 

 i8o Pictures from Photographs by 

 Cherry Kearton : Cassell & Co. , Lon- 

 don, Paris and Melbourne [New York, 

 East i8th St.], 1898. 8vo. Pages xvi 

 + 368, Price, $5. 



Authors may or may not be indebted to 

 reviewers of their works, but it is not 

 often that reviewers are under obligations 

 to the authors of the works they review. 

 In the present instance, however, we feel 

 that we must express our gratitude to the 

 Messrs. Kearton for furnishing us with 

 such an admirable demonstration of the 

 kind of ornithology for which this journal 

 stands. If, following the same lines, we 

 can bring Bird-Lore to the high standard 

 reached in ' With Nature and a Camera, ' 

 we shall have nearly approached our ideal. 



Briefly, this book is a record of obser- 

 vation and photography by two ornitholo- 

 gists in Great Britain. Doubtless, no 

 birds in the world have been more written 

 about than the birds of this region, and 

 still this book is filled with fresh and origi- 

 nal matter, which is always interesting, 

 and often of real scientific value. 



Asked to explain how it was that in such 

 a well-worked field the author of this 

 volume had succeeded in securing so much 

 new material, we should reply that we 

 believed it was because he was an ob- 

 server rather than a collector. Appar- 

 ently realizing that to collect specimens 

 of British birds would add but little to 

 the store of our knowledge concerning 

 them, he has devoted his time to a study 

 of their habits, and in presenting the re- 

 sults of his labors, he has been most ably 

 seconded by his brother, whose photo- 

 graphs of birds in nature have not, so far 

 as we know, been excelled. 



Perhaps the most forcible lesson taught 

 by this book is the pleasure to be derived 

 from photographing wild birds in nature, 

 and the surprisingly good results which 

 may be achieved by patient, intelligent 

 effort. We do not recall a more ade- 



quately illustrated nature book, and its 

 pictures not only claim our admiration 

 because of their beauty, but also because 

 they carry with them an assurance of 

 fidelity to nature which no artist's pencil 

 can inspire. 



Bird Gods. By Charles de Kay. With 

 decorations by George Wharton Ed- 

 wards. A. S. Barnes & Co., New 

 York. i2mo., pages xix-l-249. Price, $2. 



' So singular a combination of orni- 

 thologist and mythologist is the author 

 of ' Bird Gods ' that students of birds, 

 as well as of myths, will find his pages 

 of interest. "Why," he asks himself, 

 "should certain birds have been allotted 

 to certain gods and goddesses in the 

 Greek and Roman mythology ? Why 

 should the Eagle go with Zeus, the 

 Peacock with Hera, the Dove with 

 Venus, the Swan with Apollo, the Wood- 

 pecker with Ares, the Owl with Pallas 

 Athene ? ' ' And his search for a reply 

 to these questions has led him into many 

 little-frequented by-paths of early Euro- 

 pean literature, in which he has found 

 much curious information concerning the 

 influence of birds on primitive religions. 

 Impressed by the ' ' share birds have had 

 in the making of myth, religion, poetry 

 and legend "'he wonders at their whole- 

 sale destruction to-day, and ventures the 

 hope that " recollection of what our ances- 

 tors thought of birds and beasts, of how 

 at one time they prized and idealized 

 them, may induce in us, their decendants, 

 some shame at the extermination to which 

 we are consigning these lovable but help- 

 less creatures, for temporary gains or sheer 

 brutal love of slaughter. ' ' 



Birds of Washington and Vicinity. 

 By Mrs. L. W. Maynard, with Intro- 

 duction by Florence A. Merriam. 

 Washington, D. C. , i8g8. 12 ino, pages 

 204. Cuts in the text, 18. Price, 85 cents. 



In a prefatory note the author states 

 that this book "has been prepared at 

 the suggestion of the Audubon Society 



(26) 



