The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds

Abstract

THE two volumes on the birds of India, which Mr. Oates has recently published, will supply a much needed want. The period of twenty-six years which has elapsed since the publication of Jerdon's “Birds of India” has been prolific in ornithological work, to such an extent that a new adjustment of the scattered details which had accumulated since that time had become an absolute necessity. Mr. Oates has already won his spurs in the field of Indian ornithology; for his “Hand-book of the Birds of Burma,” published in 1883, has always been looked upon as a standard work; and by coming to England, at great personal sacrifice, to write the bird volumes of the “Fauna of British India,” he has deserved the gratitude of all zoologists. Those of us who are acquainted with the “Hand-book ” before mentioned, will not be surprised to find that in the present volumes Mr. Oates has done his work in a thoroughly conscientious manner. Without commencing, as Jerdon did, with a general outline of ornithology, for which space was not available, Mr. Oates has contrived to give a condensed introduction, which will give the student some small idea of classification of passerine birds, with which this volume deals. We could have wished that the author had followed a more natural arrangement of passerine families, as his scheme of arrangement results in some very incongruous affinities, but these will doubtless be further explained when the author gives a detailed arrangement of the orders and families of birds in his third volume. As the furlough which has been granted to Mr. Oates is quite insufficient for him to finish the work in anything like a reasonable period, we are glad to learn that a representation has been made to the Government of India, by some of our leading men of science, for a further extension of leave, to enable the author to finish the work, which he has begun so creditably. It would be a thousand pities to see the completion of this book intrusted to less capable hands, of which there seems to be some fear expressed in Mr. Blanford's preface.

The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma.

Published under the authority of the Secretary of State for India in Council. Edited by W. T. Blanford. Birds. Vol. I. By Eugene W. Oates. Pp. i.—xx., 1—556. (London: Taylor and Francis, 1889.)

The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds.

Allan O. Hume C.B. Second Edition. Edited by E. W. Oates. Vol. 1. Pp. i.—xii., 1—397. (London: R. H. Porter, 1889.)