Bird Lovers 
Library. 
(57) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
A Handbook of British Inland Birds.— By An¬ 
thony Collett, with coloured and outline plates of 
eggs by Eric Parker. London, 1906: Macmillan 
and Co., Ltd. ; Crown 8vo., 6s. 
Whether it is advisable to confine the scope of a 
popular book on British birds to inland species, 
seeing how familiar are some of the Gulls even in 
London nowadays, may well be questioned; but, 
.granting the advisability, the present work will be 
found to present much that is of great value, to 
say nothing of the coloured illustrations of eggs— 
a great boon in any bird book, since eggs are so 
popular with boys and often so hard to describe. 
The letterpress deals only with what may be called 
the regular British birds, omitting the rare strag¬ 
glers, and is exceedingly well written, being read¬ 
able without the overflow into “fine writing” which 
too often annoys in bird books, while the details 
about nesting-habits are very fully given. The 
descriptions of the birds are done sketchily, in a 
style well adapted to the needs of the beginners for 
whom the work is intended, although now and then 
they are too slight altogether; and we note one or 
two cases of actual inaccuracy, as when the hens 
of the Bullfinch and Chaffinch are described as 
“duller” than their mates—much of their colouring 
being absolutely different—while the sex difference 
in the Siskin is not noted at all. 
Tales of the Birds. — By W. Warde Fowler. Lon¬ 
don, 1903: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.; Crown 8vo., 
2s. 6d. Cloth elegant, gilt edges, 3s. 6d. 
This book, which is an old favourite that has 
deservedly run through several editions, is quite 
the most charming ever written on English birds 
in its own style—humanised stories about familiar 
species. It was written, too, years before the writ¬ 
ing of such tales about animals became so common 
as it is now. One or two of the stories have more 
of the human than the bird interest, and these 
strike us as not up to the general level of the book. 
But anything more delightful than most of its con¬ 
tents would be hard to find. Mr. Warde Fowler 
seems to know exactly what any particular bird 
would do or say had it a human mind. This comes 
out most charmingly in the two stories, “A Debate 
in an Orchard” and “A Jubilee Sparrow.” The 
personalities of the debating birds, as they discuss 
the Blackbird’s motion that man is “a mean, mis¬ 
chievous, and malevolent animal,” make the most 
delightfully humorous reading, and tfm adventures 
of the palace-bred sparrow, “Jubilee,” are realistic 
to a degree. We may quote his snobbish father’s 
remarks to his mother as a sample of the style: 
“My dear,” he said, “you mustn’t leave the nest 
to-day. You know my hopes and wishes; 
you will disappoint me dreadfully if you 
can’t manage to hatch out an egg to¬ 
morrow. It really is our duty, as we 
live in a palace, to have a nestling 
hatched on the Jubilee day. . . . Re¬ 
member, I picked you out of a whole 
crowd down in St. James’s Park, and I 
made no inquiries about your connections ; 
you may have come from a,Pimlico slum, 
for all I know. But I saw you had 
good qualities, and I asked no questions.” 
Anyone wanting a seasonable present 
for a fellow bird-lover, child or adult, 
could, not do better than send him this 
book. 
A Year with the Birds.— By W. Warde 
Fowler. London, 1902: Macmillan and 
Co., Ltd. ; Crown 8vo., 3s. 6d. 
Quite different in its scope and style from the 
above work, the present is also a tried volume which 
has passed through several editions. It deals in a 
popular, yet scholarly and observant manner, with 
birds observed in and about Oxford, in a Midland 
village, and in the Swiss Alps. We can heartily 
endorse what Mr. Warde Fowler says about the 
great abundance, variety, and tameness of the 
Oxford birds; the city is an ideal place for the 
beginner in ornithology. The remarks on the 
Warblers—a favourite group with the author—will 
delight all bird-lovers, but we are hardly in accord 
with him in his condemnation of the Jay and Mag¬ 
pie ; surely colour and picturesqueness should count 
as well as song. The chapters on the Alpine birds 
and on birds in the classics are particularly inter¬ 
esting, and will be found very instructive. 
There is one point, however, in which exception 
may be taken to both of these very excellent 
volumes of Mr. Warde-Fowler’s—the illustrations 
are not by any means worthy of the text. 
Garden and Aviary Birds of India.— By F. Finn. 
Calcutta, 1906: Thacker, Spink and Co. 
This book should fill a place which has long been 
vacant in the libraries of Indian nature-lovers. 
Many people there would gladly learn the names 
and ways of the many beautiful and interesting 
birds which haunt their gardens in the East, but are 
repelled by the size and elaborateness of scientific 
manuals, while very few popular works are avail¬ 
able. Information about Indian aviculture is an 
even greater desideratum, so Mr. Finn’s book will 
appeal to two' classes of readers. He has, in the 
avicultural aspect of the work, not confined him¬ 
self to Indian species, but deals with a good many 
exotic birds which are frequently obtainable there. 
Fanciers will be interested tO‘ note that John China¬ 
man goes in for canary-breeding, and sends the 
results to India. The book is illustrated by many 
black-and-w’hite figures, with the leading colours of 
each bird noted in print, so as to facilitate recogni¬ 
tion. The drawing is decidedly inclined to stiff¬ 
ness, but the figures are quite recognisable. 
How to Know the Indian Waders.— By F. Finn. 
Calcutta, 1906: Thacker, Spink and Co. 
The present work appeals pre-eminently to the 
sportsman in India, but as details are given about 
the habits of the more interesting species, and their 
treatment in captivity dealt with, it may also com¬ 
mand a wider interest, while the. abundance of 
birds of this type in the East makes reading about 
them interesting here, where so few are familiar. 
