110 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
REVIEWS. 
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
A. H. S. Lucas and W. H. Dudley le Souef. Melbourne, 
1911: Whitcombe and Tombs. 
Tuts is published as a complementary volume to the ‘‘Ani- 
mals of Australia’’ by the same writers and publishers. 
The book consists of 489 pages of letterpress, inter- 
‘spersed with over two hundred text blocks and full page illus- 
trations, and six coloured plates of groups of birds. 
If we take this book as an illustrated catalogue of our 
bird fauna, it is a valuable addition to the various bird 
books that have been published during the last few years. 
The bird lover and student, however, would have probably 
hoped to see more original matter, and new facts regarding 
their habits and life history. 
It can be well understood that the joint authors had to 
‘condense their matter in a book of under five hundred pages, 
but it is a pity that the matter is not more even. For ex- 
ample, the Gannet has five pages, including the text blocks, 
and six are devoted to the Lyre Bird, while the Black Swan, 
the Pied Goose, and the Black-breasted Plover have just five 
lines each of descriptive matter. That quaint bird, the Musk 
Duck, is given eight lines; no mention is made of her inter- 
esting habits, or how she dives through the water with her 
ducklings on her back when in danger. And the authors 
‘say ‘it rarely flies.’’ Did the authors ever see or hear of a 
Musk Duck, with its tiny wings, flying? 
W.W.F. 
ny 
A HANDBOOK OF DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF 
VICTORIA. 
Part V. 1911. Chas. French, F.E.S. 
‘TuE veteran Government Entomologist of Victoria, who has 
just retired from active service on a well-earned pension, 
before leaving office has seen through the press the 5th series 
of his well-known ‘“‘Destructive Insects.”’ 
Twenty-seven coloured plates of insects are given, with 
‘descriptive letterpress, and twelve plates of birds. The work 
