2^oofe ji^efcDs; anti ^thkm 



A Practical Handbook of British 

 Birds. Edited by H. F. Witherby. 8vo. 

 Illustrated with colored plates and nu- 

 merous text figures. In eighteen parts. 

 Part I, pp. i-xvi, 64; March 3, 1919. Part 

 II, pp. 65-128, April 30, 1919. Price 

 4s. per part. 



The present work differs so radically in 

 character from its numerous predecessors 

 that the authors need make no apology 

 for adding another to the already large 

 list of books on British birds. Mr. Wither- 

 by secured the cooperation of E. Hartert, 

 A. C. Jackson, C. Oldham, F. C. R. 

 Jourdain and N. F. Ticehurst, each of 

 whom treats of some department with 

 which he is especially familiar, thereby 

 adding greatly to the authoritativeness 

 of the book as a whole. 



The book, unlike most other books in 

 its field, abounds in analytical Keys. There 

 are Keys to Orders, Families, Genera, and 

 Species. The Key to Orders is of the 

 illustrated type which was, we believe 

 first used in ornithology in the reviewer's 

 'Handbook of Birds of Eastern North 

 America,' and which was originated by 

 Ernest Thompson Seton. 



The most distinctive and valuable 

 feature of this work is its descriptions' of 

 plumages, mainly by the editor, and which, 

 it is said, are "more complete than any 

 hitherto published in a book on British 

 birds." 



The sections on 'Breeding Habits' 

 (by Jourdain) are also admirable and 

 contain in condensed form an amount of 

 information for which one generally 

 searches in vain, such, for instance, as 

 the number of days incubation, when 

 begun, whether by one or both sexes, etc. 



The paragraphs on migration (Tice- 

 hurst) and distribution (Witherby, Tice- 

 hurst, Jourdain, Hartert) are also most 

 satisfactory, but we must confess our 

 disappointment with that part of the 

 work relating to general habits and notes. 

 We have, for example, nearly a page and a 

 half devoted to the plumage of the Starling 

 but only five lines on its general habits 



(2 



and the single word 'loquacity' is the only 

 one referring to its notes. Only nesting 

 haunts are given, while the stereotyped 

 method of treatment employed appears to 

 have prohibited all reference to the bird as 

 a part of animate nature, in short to the 

 sentiment of ornithology. The book, 

 indeed, is eminently practical, but we fear 

 that the authors have been too modest in 

 caUing a work which will apparently fill 

 nearly 1,200 pages and cost about $18, a 

 'Handbook.' Unquestionably it will long 

 be the standard source of information on 

 the plumages, migrations, and breeding 

 habits of British birds.— F. M. C. 



The Outdoor Club. By Samuel Sco- 

 viLLE, Jr. Philadelphia. The Sunday- 

 School Times. 12 mo. 



This is the story of how a father led 

 his children to nature. We cannot imagine 

 any child who would not like to have 

 joined his 'Band,' as it was called, but we 

 know, alas, many fathers who, even if 

 they desired, could not make such an ad- 

 mirable band-leader as the one who wrote 

 this little volume. Fortunate, indeed, are 

 the children who so soon and so happily 

 come into possession of this heritage in 

 nature. We especially commend this re- 

 cord of joyous days afield to parents. — 

 F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Wilson Bulletin. — The March 

 issue (Vol. XXXI, No. i) contains as its 

 leading article an interesting account of 

 the "Food-Birds of the Smith Sound 

 Eskimos' by W. Elmer Ekblaw. Every 

 species, as a matter of fact, is eaten, the 

 Dovekie being the most important, while 

 only a rather hungry Eskimo will eat an 

 Old-Squaw. The author concludes that 

 were it not for the birds and their eggs, the 

 Eskimo's food-supply would often fail 

 them, and the abundance of birds is one 

 of the niost important conditions which 

 make life possible in the Northland. 



Harry C. Oberholser describes a new 



54) 



