TWO NEW BIRD BOOKS. 
231 
TWO NEW BIRD BOOKS. 
London Birds and other Sketches, by T. Digby Pigott, C. B. (R. H. Porter; 
7s. 6d.) It was quite worth while to re-publish these pleasant papers. There 
are, indeed, but seven of them, and two of these are, in the actual result to be 
gained from them, a little disappointing. We fancy as we begin the chapter 011 
“ The Last Home of the Bearded Tit,” that we are going to be shown a nest of 
that fairy of the fens, which to most of us is a name and little more ; but we are 
not even to get so much as a glimpse of the bird. And when we open at “ .St. 
Kilda from without,” we are excited rather by the “ St. Kilda” than the “with- 
out,” and when we find that we never reach St. Kilda at all, we can hardly avoid a 
momentary feeling that we have been taken in. Y et even in these very chapters, 
Mr. Pigott’s skill as an author soon reconciles us to our disappointment. He has 
much grace of expression, a flavouring of gentle humour, and that true sympathy 
with all living things which will make his book welcome to all right-minded 
Englishmen, and especially to members of the Selborne Society. lie takes us 
to the .Shetlands, to the Fame Islands, and to the flat meadows of Holland, not 
to tell us of his prowess with the gun, but of his enjoyable studies of animal life. 
He does not waste his space, indeed, in vituperating those who shoot and collect, 
but he does what is far more valuable — he sets us an excellent example of good 
sense. Brief holidays snatched from work in London may be used to some real 
purpose, if we can afford to follow Mr. Pigott’s lead ; even London itself may be 
made to yield plenty of out-door pleasure, as the paper on London birds, and still 
more that on London insects, will prove to anyone who doubts it. I am grateful 
for some very pleasant half hours spent with this book, which is the work of a 
scholar and an antiquarian, as well as of an observer of animal life ; and the only 
fault I can find with it is that its long and narrow pages, though they may be of 
a shape which is becoming fashionable, are not quite suited, in my opinion, to 
give that repose to the eye which we seem to expect in a volume whose contents 
are so enjoyable. 
The Migration of Birds, by Charles Dixon (Chapman & Hall). I hardly know 
what to say of this book to readers of Nature Notes. It is an attempt, and b)' 
no means a very successful one, to deal scientifically with a huge mass of facts 
relating to the migration of birds, not only in these islands and in Europe, but in 
all parts of the globe. At the same time, Mr. Dixon seems to have intended his 
book to be a popular one, i.e., to be readable and intelligible for those who have 
no special knowledge of scientific ornithology. The result unfortunately is that 
we have neither a good popular book nor yet a good scientific book ; it will 
often be most puzzling to the ordinary reader, while to the man of science it will 
be wanting in completeness and solidity. 
As a popular book it is spoilt by the want of that power to explain difficult 
probletns lucidly, which the great masters of science almost always possess. It 
may, indeed, be doubted whether the subject of migration is as yet ripe for such 
a treatment ; but Mr. Dixon has rushed in to undertake it, and he must bear the 
responsibility. His want of clear thinking is very obvious in his frequent failure 
to master the construction even of his own sentences. He can usually narrate 
his own experience well, and his books have hitherto been at least readable ; but 
in this volume we are continually irritated, in spite of an honest desire to make 
the best of a work which is unique of its kind, by such sentences as never should 
have been allowed, either by author or publisher, to run the risk of exposure. I 
forbear to quote, but examples of what I mean will be found on pages 1.1, 72 and 
200. And I must add that Mr. Dixon often makes use of expressions which 
show that he is tpiite ready to degrade our language to the level of modern 
scientific German — in other words, to the lowest level to which human printed 
speech can well descend. What else can we say of such a sentence as this : “ As 
for myself, I neither accept nor deny it {i.e., the theory of hibernation], having 
personally seen nothing to refute or confirm it, although fully believing it possible, 
considering that such an attitude is the most scientific position to assume until the 
subject has been more fully investigated, even at the ri.sk of being ‘ handled 
without gloves ’ by some mud and torpor despising bruiser critic for my heresy P 
