Abstract
WE have received the first of the projected four volumes of a smaller and less costly edition of Mr. Thorburn's “British Birds,” a book first issued on a sumptuous scale in 1915 and now out of print in its original form. The coloured plates, a new series, are again the principal feature, for Mr. Thorburn has a well-earned reputation as an ornithological artist. They are usually clear and accurate, often beautiful, and on the whole well reproduced; a few, however, are noticeably less successful than the others. The text is undistinguished, consisting of very brief summaries of the usual text-book information plus a few comments, frequently in the form of quotations, upon habits or special points. This is unfortunate, for it is difficult to see what function a still rather expensive book giving so little information can fulfil.
British Birds.
Written and illustrated by Archibald Thorburn. In 4 vols. Vol. 1. New edition. Pp. xii + 176 + 48 plates. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1925.) 16s. net.
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British Birds . Nature 116, 390 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116390b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116390b0