Abstract
THE recognition of the importance of “nature-study,” if we are to know anything really worth knowing about animals and plants, in Australia is a satisfactory sign ot the times, and an indication that throughout the world the old-fashioned ways of teaching are to be abolished, and also that the days of mere section-cutting and skin-describing are numbered. The greater part of the present little volume is devoted to birds (mammals oeing left out), of the life-histories of which Mr. R. Hall has for many years been an enthusiastic student, and we must congratulate both authors on the mass of interesting information they have concentrated into such a small space with regard to a number of characteristic Australian species. The majority of the numerous illustrations are the results of the authors' own cameras, and, although necessarily on a small scale, they are, for the most part, excellent examples of bird-photography. One great advantage possessed by the authors is that their subject has a freshness which cannot be claimed for descriptions of British bird-life, and this gives a charm to their work which stay-at-home writers must find it difficult to equal. We must confess, however, to a feeling of dissatisfaction at the use of names like “lunulated honey-eaters” for certain of the species, which are certainly not examples of “nature-teaching,”and we are by no means sure that we quite like the “pupil and teacher ”style on which the work is planned—it savours a little too much of “Sandford and Merton.”
Nature Studies in Australia.
By W. Gillies R. Hall. Pp. v + 299. (Melbourne and London: Wintcombe and Tombs, Ltd., n.d.) Price 2s.
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L., R. Nature Studies in Australia . Nature 68, 100 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/068100b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/068100b0