Review.



223



wires. Many kinds of birds come to feed from these towers. Always

there are pigeons coming and going—the Indian Blue Rock-Pigeon

(C olumba intermedia ) and its many semi-domestic varieties which

swarm all over India; they are sacred birds in Rajputana, where

no one ever touches them. Rose-coloured Starlings, Doves, Paro¬

quets, and other birds are generally to be seen feeding there, and

indeed Jains’ bird-towers is one of the most interesting and delight¬

ful things to be seen in India.



REVIEW.


“BRITISH BIRDS.”


A book of birds illustrated in colour by Mr. Thorburn is sure

to be an acquisition of value, in spite of the artist having to group on

one sheet several different species, which must necessarily detract

from facts in nature, but the grouping is so good, and the individual

poses so life-like, that one’s eyes can be focussed on each bird by

itself. In the case of the small Warblers, it is really an advantage,

for such puzzles to all but the expert ornithologist as the Willow

Warbler, Wood Wren, Chiff-Chaff, etc., can be compared together,

though even so, they are not easy to identify in wild life. Mr.

Thorburn’s touches of natural surroundings are charmingly and

cleverly introduced, a splash of crimson thorn blossoms with the

Shrikes; a gleam of Gentiana acauiis by the Alpine Accentor;

a bunch of crocuses, yellow and white, where the Blackbird is

searching for the early worm. Perhaps owing to a loss of colouring

reproduction, the head of the Rock Thrush (Petrocincla saxatilis )

is too heavy and leaden in tone, and the Chough seems too large in

comparison with the Jay on the same sheet, especially as the latter

appears to be more in the foreground, but these are minor critic¬

isms which become minimized in one’s admiration for the work

as a whole.


It is in itself an ‘ edition de luxe,’ for not everyone, especially

in these days of warfare, can afford £6 6s. Od., though we would

hasten to encourage bird-lovers with the fact that for that sum, they

have still three more volumes of a generous bulk to come, the



