Reviews.



309



REVIEWS.


AVIARIES AND AVIARY LIFE.*


Mr. Page is too well known an Aviculturist to need any

introduction to our readers and a book by such an authority on

practical Aviculture is bound to contain a mass of information

from which all of us can learn something. I11 the introductory

chapter we are pleased to see that he lays great stress on the

necessity of keeping a “ Log-book ” in which an accurate record

of the doings of the birds may be daily entered up. This most

important part of Aviculture is, we fear, sadly neglected. When

birds are wild, and more especially in the less civilised regions of

the world, it is almost impossible to devote the time and patience

necessary to careful observations of their habits, we have not yet

become sufficiently educated to prefer our collectors to bring

back a well-filled diary rather than a well-filled bag, and thus the

only source from which we may learn the courting and nesting

habits of many species is from Aviculture. Many beginners may

feel at a loss what to record about their pets, but in future such

an excuse will be of no avail for the whole matter is carefully set

out in the present volume. A large chapter is devoted to Aviaries,

abundantly illustrated with photographs, many of these Aviaries

will be beyond the means of most Aviculturists to copy, but

smaller and more modest Aviaries are also portrayed as well

as minute practical details of how they should be built and the

approximate cost.


The rest of the book is devoted to different classes of birds

and their needs in captivity, and a list of the main genera is given

together with the English name of a well known species with

which most readers are likely to be familiar. Roughly speaking,

only the Passeres or small birds such as Finches, Thrushes, Fly¬

catchers, Tanagers, Starlings, Toucans, Hornbills, Birds of Para¬

dise, etc. are dealt with in detail and the larger birds merely

touched upon in the last three chapters. The author has evi¬

dently been pressed for space, but we feel that in a general book

such as this some of the detail and classification might have been



* Aviaries and Aviary Lift by Wkslky T. Page, F Z.S., 8vo. 239 pp. and numerous

illustrations. Ashbourne : j. H. Henstock, The Avian Press.



