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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1909.

TWO BIRD BOOKS.

(1) Birds of the World: a Popular Account. By Dr. Frank H. Knowlton. With a chapter on the Anatomy of Birds, by Frederic A. Lucas; The whole edited by Robert Ridgway. Pp. xiii+873. (New York: Henry Holt and Company; London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 1909.) Price 30s. net. (2) Birds Useful and Birds Harmful. By Otto Herman and J. A. Owen. Pp. viii+387. (Manchester: The University Press, 1909.) Price 6s. net. (1)T would seem that there is no satisfying the IT demand for books on birds. Every year places before, not the scientific ornithologist only, but the general reader, in this country, scores of volumes on this group of animals, which must indicate a ready sale for them. The taste for natural-history works has unquestionably been growing in England at a rapid rate during the last decade among all classes of the community, instigated and encouraged largely by the non-technical manner in which so many treatises of the highest scientific authority are being published for the general reader, the majority of them lavishly illustrated, as well as by the issue of so many local faunas, which give an impulse to the study of the species to be found in their own neighbourhood by

those into whose hands the books fall.

The

Imitation is the sincerest flattery, we know. "Birds of the World," the first of the two volumes on our list, is one of the American Nature series, projected by Holt and Company, of New York, to which the leading scientific men of America are to contribute. This volume, however, compares disadvantageously in one respect with those of the English Nature series, in handiness and comfort in reading or consulting. It is an octavo measuring 10 inches long by 7 inches wide, and nearly 3 inches thick. It contains 873 thick pages, and turns the balance at more than 4lb.; it might be termed a bi-manual, or perhaps more appropriately a table-edition. In respect to its contents, the book stands on a high pedestal of

excellence.

The demand for books on birds seems to be developing in America as rapidly as it is doing in England, for the Nature series of the United States is due, as the preface assures us,

"to the great awakening of popular interest . . . in recent years in relation to our birds, an interest that has been fostered not only by the admirable work of the Audubon societies and the widespread nature teaching in the schools, but by the deeper, broader sentiment which is leading back to, and nearer to, nature. The increasing number of people yearly turning back to the country, either for recreation or permanent residence, has naturally stimulated a desire to know more intimately their surroundings-the trees, the flowers, the birds."

The three names which appear, as authors or editor, on the title-page are a sufficient guarantee that the desire of the migrant to the country to know more, not only about the birds of the United States, but of those of the globe generally, will be gratified amply, ac

curately, and in a manner likely to foster personal observation of those species within the reader's reach.

66

After an introductory chapter dealing with definitions, and such questions as pterylosis and feather structure, nests and eggs, we are presented with clearly, concisely written chapters on the anatomy of birds, their geographical distribution, migration and classification. The various subclasses and orders of birds are then dealt with in twenty-one further chapters. Dr. Knowlton recognises two subclasses-Archæornithes, with unique representation in the Archæopteryx, and Neornithes, containing all other birds, which he divides into twenty-one orders. Had space permitted, we should feel tempted to demur at the 99 tree to the Hesperposition assigned in the avian ornithiformes and Ichthyornithiformes, and to the Palamedeæ and Opisthocomi. Taking the author's brigading as it stands, we find each of the orders The habits discussed in a very interesting manner. and life-history of all the more important species in each are described concisely, as space demanded much condensation; yet nothing essential or really important is omitted to enable the reader to obtain an excellent grasp of each group. The illustrations are very numerous, and, with a few exceptions, excellent. There are 233 black-and-white blocks, many of them full-page; of the latter, some of the best are reproductions of those beautiful life-like groups with scenic backgrounds

which form one of the most attractive features of the American Museum in New York. The representation of the young hoatzins is specially instructive. Where the blocks, however, have been made from coloured plates in such works as Schlegel's "Diergaarden" or the Zoological Society of London's publications, the results have proved less satisfactory, inasmuch as the yellows and reds of the originals have come out too dark. The smaller text-figures also leave something to be desired, occasionally, in the clear definition of markings on the plumage. Of the sixteen full-page plates reproduced in the three-colour process, with which the volume is further embellished, specially noteworthy are those of the mandarin-duck, the rackettailed kingfisher, and the lesser bird of paradise. The figure of the kiwi on p. 29 is taken, we presume, from a drawing of the type which was mounted for Lord Stanley's collection at Knowsley, before the correct attitude and habits of the apteryx were sufficiently known either to scientific men to taxidermists. Buller's "Birds of New Zealand" would have supplied a better model.

or

The information contained in the "Birds of the World" is, as already remarked, nearly everywhere up to date, and very accurate; but the omission of any reference to the Phororachidæ is surprising. In regard to the moa, the bird is described as being absolutely wingless. Evidence, however, was obtained from a turbary deposit near Omaru proving that certainly one species of Dinornis possessed a humerus that functioned in its glenoid cavity on the scapulo-coracoid; and, if the writer be not mistaken, a small bone is in existence in New Zealand very similar in form to that described as belonging to the humerus of Epyornis. The moa had probably, therefore, a diminutive wing like

that of the kiwi. With regard to the question whether the Maoris ever saw the moa, it is stated on p. 81 that "it appears that the Maoris have only been in their present location for about ten generations, or some 250 or 300 years, and the moa could hardly have lived within that period, and it is held as probable that their extinction was several centuries earlier than this."

Definite evidence of the contemporaneity of the Maori and the moa was adduced some eighteen years ago, during the exploration of the Sumner Cave, near Christchurch. The mouth of this rock-shelter had been closed by a landslide before the arrival of the Europeans in the South Island, the result, probably, of an earthquake, while a meal was in progress. The -occupants succeeded in escaping, but round the fireplace about which they had been sitting were found moa bones and portions of the eggs, with the shellmembrane intact, on which they had been feasting. On the floor near by lay a boat-bailer and other objects with the carving truly characteristic of the Maori upon them.

Of the three specimens of the now extinct Dromaeus ater discovered, and brought to Europe by the French -expedition under Baudin, all have now been located, as stated in the work before us-two in Paris (a skeleton and mounted specimen), and one (a skeleton) in Florence. A fourth specimen, it might have been mentioned, is now in the Lord Derby Museum, Liverpool, and was exhibited at the International Ornithological Congress in London by the Hon. Walter

Rothschild on behalf of the director of that institution. As to the black swan of Australia, it seems extremely probable that it was indigenous to New Zealand as well as to the island-continent. The bones of a species, described under the name of Chenopis sumnerensis, hardly differing from those of Chenopis atrata, were found among the débris of the disturbed meal referred to above in the Sumner Cave, as well as in an ancient kitchen-midden in the Chatham islands.

A very full index completes this very excellent, succinct, and trustworthy account of the "Birds of the World," and we hope it will, despite is bulkiness and weight, meet in the United States, and in England also, with the appreciation it fully deserves. (2) The second volume in the list given above is of a very different character, and the reason for its publication in this country is not very apparent.

The book is a translation of portions of the valuable work prepared by the director of the Royal Hungarian Ornithological Bureau to enable landowners, farmers, fruit-growers, and gardeners in that country to discriminate their avian friends and foes, together with a somewhat well-worn account, padded with poetical quotations, by Mr. J. A. Owen, of a selection of our most common English birds, including always the statement whether the species is harmful or useful in England, which seems to be apparently the only excuse for Herr Herman's book (in part) appearing in an English garb. The English co-author believes that amongst the innumerable books on bird-life which have been published of late years "there has been a lack which this little volume may supply."

From a careful reading of the work we can really discover very little not to be found in nearly every book on British birds. It includes also a few species, common in Hungary, which rarely visit England, or are only winter visitors which can trouble the English agriculturist but little. It lacks, moreover, the details arranged on a regular scientific basis" and "the investigations with regard to the food of birds carried on by a fully qualified entomologist" upon which Herr Herman has proved the various species of Hungary to be useful or harmful, and which would have impressed the corresponding classes of readers in England as those for whom the volume was prepared in Hungary. A more thorough work on the economic value of birds in the English language is to be found in the Bulletins of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which contain the life-history and the detailed results of the examination of hundreds of individuals of each species, including nearly as many English ones as are given in the volume under review.

Birds Useful and Harmful" may, nevertheless, assist in spreading the knowledge of those birds, persistently persecuted, that deserve protection.

A GROUP OF "FLORAS."

F.

By

(1) A Tourist's Flora of the West of Ireland. R. L. Praeger. Pp. xii+243; with 5 coloured maps, 27 plates, and 17 figures. (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis and Co., Ltd., 1909.) Price 3s. 6d. net. (2) Illustrated Guide to the Trees and Flowers of England and Wales. By H. G. Jameson. Pp. xi+136. (London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Ltd., 1909.) Price 2s. 6d. net.

(3) Flora Koreana. Pars Prima. By T. Makai. (Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University of Tokyo, Japan, vol. xxvi., article i., 1909.) (4) The Botany of Worcestershire. An Account of the Flowering Plants, Ferns, Mosses, Hepatics, Lichens, Fungi, and Fresh-water Algae, which grow or have grown spontaneously in the County of Worcester. By J. Amphlett and Carleton Rea. Pp. xxxiii +654. (Birmingham: Cornish Bros., Ltd., 1909.) Price 25s. net.

(MR.

R. R. L. PRAEGER'S book is a solid contribution to the subject of phytogeography, and is increased in value by the many beautiful, mostly full-page, photographs of striking species of plants, some of which appear for the first time, as here illustrated. Coloured and uncoloured maps of the districts described or of the distribution of species add to the usefulness of the book, which is well indexed and singularly free from typographical errors. The introduction contains a short account of the physical features of the west of Ireland, of its, mainly edaphic, plant formations, and of the more remarkable features of its flora. The topographical section which follows contains valuable information on the character of the flora of the numerous regions selected for description. This sec-., tion will appeal to the touring botanist, more especially as the information given is not purely botanical. The author might have expanded this section, with advan-,