Live Stock. 



500 



[June, 1909, 



I do not know the actual cost of the 

 Bangalore buildings. They were simple 

 and inexpensive. 



The recurring expenses for cultivation 

 should not exceed Rs. 50 per acre per 

 annum and probably will cost less. 



Mr. Tata paid his Japanese Expert 

 Rs. 150 per month at first ; now he is 

 also given, I understand, a commission 

 on results. 



INDIAN WILD-FOWL. 



The Indian Ducks and Their Allies. 



By E. C. Stuart Baker. 



(Review from Nature, January, 1909.) 



The enormous flocks in which many 

 members of the duck tribe visit the 

 plains of India during the cold season, 

 coupled with the relatively large num- 

 ber of species by which the group is 

 there represented, affords ample justi- 

 fication for the issue of this handsome 

 and superbly illustrated volume. For 

 the swarms of ducks, geese, swans, and 

 mergansers naturally attract the atten- 

 tion of a host of sportsmen, many of 

 whom are anxious to identify the species 

 of the birds which go to form their bag, 

 and ascertain something about their 

 natural history. • Neither is the book of 

 less importance to the ornithologist — 

 either professional or amateur— for Mr, 

 Stuart Baker has much new matter to 

 record concerning many of the species 

 passed under view, while the thirty 

 coloured plates— reproduced from sket- 

 ches by Messrs. Cronvold, Lodge, and 

 Keulemans— have a distinct scientific 

 value of their own, altogether apart 

 from their beauty as works of art. 



The origin of the book dates from 1896, 

 when the author was asked to communi- 

 cate a series of illustrated articles on 

 Indian ducks to the Journal of the 

 Bombay Natural History Society which 

 should incorporate the numerous notes 

 on the group published in the Indian 

 scientific journals and sporting papers 

 since the issue of Hume and Marshall's 

 well-known "Game-birds of India." 

 These articles were commenced in the 

 eleventh volume of the aforesaid serial, 

 and the Avork now before us is a reprint 

 of the series with such additions and 

 emendations as were necessary to bring 

 them up to date. 



Apart from the flamingoes, which are 

 brigaded with the ducks under the 

 general title of " Chenomorphse," the 

 author recognises no fewer than forty- 

 three representatives of the group as 

 visiting or permanently residing in India. 

 He is, however, somewhat of a ''split- 

 ter," and certain of his species, as in the 

 goose-section, would very probably be 

 relegated to a lower grade by many 

 naturalists. We are also inclined to 

 disagree with his views as to the multi- 

 plication of generic groups. The divi- 

 sion of the flamingoes into two genera, 

 and likewise the splitting of the brent- 

 geese into Rufibrenta and Branta, are 

 examples of what appears to us totally 

 unnecessary complication in this matter. 

 The author has, however, taken Count 

 Salvadore's British Museum catalogue 

 of the group as his guide, and he has 

 adhered religiously to the classification 

 therein adopted. We confess to a feel- 

 ing that it would have been better to 

 follow the late Dr. Blanford's volume 

 in the "Fauna of British India," 

 whereby greater simplicity would have 

 been secured and at the same time 

 some advance made towards uniformity 

 in the names of Indian animals. In this 

 connection we may note the urgent need 

 of a proper ta,ble of contents at the com- 

 mencement of the volume, the one which 

 does duty therefor being too absurd for 

 words, two out of its half-dozen items 

 being " title-page " and "contents," while 

 a third is " Indian Ducks." 



For a book which must be largely 

 patronized by sportsmen (if it is to make 

 a profit), we also venture to think that 

 too many technical terms, or definitions, 

 are introduced without any sort of 

 explanation. What, for instance, will 

 the sportsman (or, for that matter, the 

 amateur naturalist) make of the bald 

 statement that the Chenomorphse are 

 characterised by having the " palate 

 desmognathous," or what will he under- 

 stand by the "neotropical region"? If 

 such expressions are used at all, they 

 ought to be adequately explained, but in 

 our opinion they are altogether out of 

 place in a work of this nature, the pro- 

 fessional naturalist does not want them, 

 and the amateur and the sportsman do 

 not understand them. In the place ot 

 the former a statement to the effect 

 that the palate in the dry skull is of the 

 closed or bridged type, and that the 

 difference between the bridged and the 

 open or slit type may be realised by 

 comparing the skull of a duck with that 

 of a fowl, would have been much more 

 to the point, while as regards the latter 

 it would have been infinitely better to 

 use the ordinary names, South and 

 Central America, in place of neotropical 

 region. 



