Reviews



127



A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OP BRITISH BIRDS 1

Part XI of this very useful work is to hand, and deals with the

Osprey, Vultures, Storks, Herons, Spoonbills, Ibis, Flamingo, and the

family Anatidae, the Swans, Geese, and Ducks. In addition to some

excellent text-figures, this part contains a very useful coloured plate

showing the bills of the two British Wild Swans and the Geese, a valuable

aid to identification.


This work when completed will contain the most up-to-date

information on all the birds on the British list, and should be in the

hands of every student of this branch of Natural History.



British Birds. Vol. xv, Nos. 2 and 3, July and August, 1921.


H. F. & G. Witherby.


Apart from the usual notes upon the habits and local occurrence

of British birds, the two last numbers of this periodical contain three

particularly interesting articles upon “ Nesting Ringed Plovers ”, by

T. Leslie Smith, illustrated by five photographs ; upon “ Diving Ducks

on the Coast of Western Canada ”, by C. E. Alford ; and upon “ The

Little Tern and its Young ”, by J. N. Douglas Smith, who assisted

his brother in his observations upon the Ringed Plover in the article

already mentioned. Mr. Alford’s article upon diving Ducks deals

principally with the Harlequin, Golden-eye, and Red-breasted

Merganser. The courtship of the Golden-eye is very amusingly

described, and the record of the manner in which the Gulls of the

district, principally the Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens),

watch for the rising Ducks to rob them of their captured prey, as told

in the July number, is independently confirmed in the August issue by

Mr. Theed Pearse, writing from Courtney, Vancouver. In this number

also Mr. Hugh S. Gladstone raises the interesting question of the date

of the introduction of the Ring-necked Pheasant into Western Europe.

This bird, he says, is not believed to have been brought to this country

until the end of the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, a Flemish



1 H. F. & G. Witherby, 326 High Holborn, W.C. 1. Price 4s. 6 cl. per part.



