Review.



165



Larks apparently make little change in their habits with the

seasons, for at all times, even winter, they start up from the ground,

both in grass and stubble, and fly away to drop in some other open

space. A genial sunny day in February will send them soaring

skywards and singing as if it were spring or early summer.


Tits, though not conspicuously numerous, are generally dis¬

tributed. The Blue Tit, commonly called Tomtit, is the most often

seen ; Long-tailed and Great Tits also accur.


The approach of spring foreshadows itself upon the birds.

By the end of February Larks, Thrushes, and Robins sing ; a brighter

green glosses the mantle of the Plover, and the Goldfinch promises

to be gorgeous. All plumage brightens, “ the little brothers of

St. Francis” show markedly increased liveliness and activity. Rooks

begin foraging for sticks, gathering round the old nesting trees and

cawing loudly. The period of nidification will soon be upon them,

and the birds undergo striking alterations of plumage and behaviour,

outward changes indicating physiological ones.



REVIEW.


BY THE WATERS OF AFRICA*


“ He who has drunk of Africa’s fountains will drink again,”

says the Arab proverb ; and assuredly those who read this delightful

book will wish for more from Miss Lorimer’s pen. The book is well

written and liberally illustrated, and a map at the end of the volume

enables the reader to accurately follow the authoress’s wanderings.

In these pages one finds the thrilling romance of Africa in a

gorgeous setting. The writer has well said that the Dark Continent

is really a blaze of amazing light (p. 7). We pass from the bright-

hued fishes of the coral reefs to the wonderful life of East Africa—

Mombasa, Nairobi, Port Florence, all linked by the Uganda railway ;

the game-haunted wildernesses, crawling with tall giraffe and sturdy

buffalo, painted zebra and grotesque wildebeest; the great Victoria

Nyanza Lake, with its archipelago of islands ; the flowery groves of



* ‘ By the Waters of Africa,’ by Norma Lorimer. London : Kobert Scott.

Pp. 342. Price 10/6 net.



