132 Review.


REVIEWS.



AQUATIC BIRDS. *


This handsome volume of nearly 600 pages deals with a

most interesting class of birds comprising those which, from

their shy nature, are perhaps the least familiar to the majority of

British ornithologists. It is the outcome of more than twenty

years observation, chiefly carried out on the Irish coast ; but

besides recording his own observations the author has been care-

ful to refer to the works of all the most trustworthy authorities

on the groups dealt with, so that the book is a valuable record of

practically all that is known of the aquatic birds of the United

Kingdom. The title is somewhat misleading as a few of the

species treated of, e.g. the Bustards or Laud Rail, can hardly be

called aquatic, while the Dipper is not mentioned ; but then the

Bustards belong to an Order in which the majority of the species

are more or less aquatic so the author has thought it best to

include them, and this applies also to the Land Rail, while the

great majority of the Passeres being land-birds, the few that are

aquatic are omitted.


The author very rightly condemns the wanton destruction

of birds and the craze for collecting their eggs, but he considers

that the systematic ornithologist who would study the plumages

and structural characters of birds must collect a certain number

of specimens, and with this we entirely agree; but perhaps some

of the best work can be done with a powerful binocular if the

observer knows how to properly conceal himself, and Professor

Patten gives some good hints as to how this may be done.


The very careful descriptions of plumage in its various

seasonal phases form a valuable feature of this book.


The illustrations, one of which we reproduce here by the

courtesy of the Publisher, are numerous and good, and a reliable

systematic, as well as a general index adds to the usefulness of

the book.



* The Aquatic Birds of Great Britain and Ireland, by Charles J. Patten, M. A., M.D., Sc.D.

&c. London : R. H. Porter, 7, Princes Street, Cavendish Square, W. Price 25/- net.



