Bird Studies

Abstract

THE stream of books about birds continues unabated. They are written from many different points of view and for different kinds of readers, and they are of varying merit. We have systematic works of reference and studies of special problems or of particular regions for the serious ornithologist; popular manuals, elaborately illustrated works of the “gift-book “type, and volumes of essays for the more general reader; and stories about birds for the children. The six books which lie before us form a representative collection.

(1) Guide to the Birds of Europe and North Africa.

By Col. R. G. Wardlaw Ramsay. With a Biographical Memoir by Dr. William Eagle Clarke. Pp. xi + 355. (London and Edinburgh: Gurney and Jackson, 1923.) 12s. 6d. net.

(2) Notes on the Birds of Dumfriesshire: a Continuation of the “Birds of Dumfriesshire”.

By Hugh S. Gladstone. Pp. 115 + 4 plates. (Dumfries: Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Anti quarian Society, 1923.) 10s. net.

(3) The Natural History of South Africa.

By F. W. Fitzsimons. Birds. In 2 vols. Vol. 1. Pp. xvi + 288 + 5 plates. Vol. 2. Pp. vii + 323 + 5 plates. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1923.) 12s. 6d. net each vol.

(4) Birds and their young.

By T. A. Coward. Pp. viii + 151 + 44 plates (12 coloured). (London: Gay and Hancock, Ltd., 1923.) 10s. 6d. net.

(5) Wild Life in Devon.

By Douglas Gordon. Pp. ix + 239 + 8 plates. (London: John Murray, 1923.) 7s. 6d. net.

(6) Wild Bird Adventures: a Nature Story Book for Boys and Girls.

By Richard Kearton. Pp. ix + 181 + 32 plates. (London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne: Cassell and Co., Ltd., 1923.) 5s. net.