SOME BOONS ABOUT ANIMALS.*
PHOTOGRAPHY has revolutionized the illustration of books, and nowhere is this more marked than in the numerous natural history works which are now published. We may begin with Wild Life and the Camera, by Mr. A. Radclyffe Dugmore. This is a well written and well illustrated American book which describes wild life in California, Newfoundland, and the southern and eastern United States. About equal portions are devoted to the author's personal experiences in " shooting " animals with the camera, to the pleasures of camping in the wilds, and to observations on the habits of porcupines, opossums, caribou, and birds. As a naturalist- photographer Mr. Dugmore is in the first rank. He is also an angler, and there are chapters on salmon and trout fishing written with enthusiasm. The rainbow trout he persistently miscalls S. iridens instead of S. iridens. The fishing at Santa Catalina Island has recently been much more fully described by Mr. Holder. There is a remarkable series of extremely good photographs of wild caribou which were only got after six years of waiting for an opportunity. There are also pretty ones of an old chicadee and a chipping sparrow feeding her nestlings on the author's hand. How these were obtained is told in the most interesting chapters of the book. The photo- graphs of caribou are really worthy of note.
We pass across the Atlantic to Scotland and to the work of a well-known Scottish naturalist-photographer. The chief fault of Mr. Seton Gordon's book is that it is too long ; were the repetitions cut out, the disconnected natural history notes at the end incorporated in the text, and the whole boiled down and put into shape, The Charm of the Hills would make a very pleasant volume. The author is a good field naturalist, who is intimately acquainted with the upper Deeside and the noble block of the Cairngorms. His observations are careful and minute ; and especially on the habits of golden eagles, ptarmigan, and snow buntings he has much of interest to tell. Had he written forty years ago his book would have rivalled St. John's classic on the Highlands. Writing at the present day, in a plain and matter-of-fact style, he must rely for success partly on a wonderful series of photographs. The mountain scenery and snowfields are magnificently depicted. The photographs of birds, particularly the young eagles and kestrels, are as good as any that have been published, and we do not remember ever to have seen any at all of the newly fledged snow bunting in its British nesting haunts. In the text, however, the use of the editorial We throughout (except on a few occasions when the author forgets) detracts slightly from the charm of the personal note which runs through most of the chapters. The reader will also find some chapters frankly dull, with mere bald descriptions of mountain topography, unless, perchance, he wants to know whether on a certain day Ben Mhaimgarbhchoire, in the far
V (1) Wild Life and the Camera. By A. Radclyffe Dugmore, F.R.G.S. Illus- trated from photographs. London: W. Heinemann. [6s. net.]—(2) The Charm of the Hills. By sieton Gordon, F.Z.S., M.B.O. U. With Rembrandt photogravure frontispiece and 84 illustrations from photographs by the Author. London .Cassell and Co. DOS. 6d. net.]—(3) flu% Home-Life of the Terns. Photographed and deicrtbed by W. Bickerton, F.Z.S., M.B.O. U. With 82 mounted plates. London : Witherby and Co. ' net.]—(4) The Snakes of S nth Africa their Venom and the Treatment of Snake-Bite. By F. W. Fitzsimons, F.Z.S„ F.E.M.S. New Edition. London : Longmans, Green and co. [12s. 64. net.] —0) People of the Weld. By E. St. Mars. Illustrations by C. L. Bull, &c. London : T. Werner Laurie. 12s. 6d. net.] —(6) The Sea- shore a Book for Boys and Girls. By F. Martin Duncan, F.B.m.s., P.S. With 112 illustrations from photographs by the Author. London: Grant Richards. [6a. net.]—(7) Nature's Nursery Tats. By the Rev. S. N. &derrick, 3f A. Illustrated with 71 photographs direct from Nature. London : Charles H. Kelly. [8s. ed. net.]—(8) Animal, Around Us. By Martin Nerrrthought. With Illustrations by Edith B. Holden. London Henry yrowde. [es.]—(9) The Book of Baby Birds. illustrations by E. J. Detmold. Descriptions Sy Florence E. Dugdale. London: Henry Frowde. [6s. net.] distance, was or was not mist-capped. When journalistic articles are not carefully revised repetitions are frequent. So here we read on p. 111, with reference to eagles, " I have seen them on January 27th carrying large branches to the eyrie, and by the middle of March the hen is usually brooding," and on p. 116, "As early as January 27th I have seen an eagle carrying a large branch to her eyrie, and the latter is ready for eggs by the third week in March"; on p. 113, " Of a clutch, one egg is normally much more richly coloured than the other, and this egg is said to contain the male bird," and on p. 117, "It has been stated that the more conspicuously marked egg contains the male bird." There are, however, many interesting facts recorded, as for instance that the nest of a kite which has not been occupied for over forty years still stands in a Scots fir. As a photographer Mr. Seton Gordon ranks high in the first class.
The flat book deals exclusively with birds, and will please the ornithologist greatly. This study of the five species of tern which nest in these islands is a delightful addition to the series which Messrs. Witherby and Co. are publishing. The 41-ome-Lzfe of the Terns, by Mr. W. Bickerton, is a charming book, well written, and illustrated with a series of thirty plates which are as good photographs as can be seen any- where. Mr. Bickerton has the happy power of selecting just the right phrase to describe the action and attitude of a bird. Most of his observations were made at Ravenglass, where common, Sandwich, and lesser terns breed. The delights of that wonderful stretch of sandhills are vividly recalled to the present writer by Mr. Bickerton's description. There is much in what he says that is of interest to the serious student of ornithology, and several facts, if we mistake not, that have not been observed or recorded before. The breeding haunt of the arctic tern and the roseate tern, one of the rarest of our birds, is wisely concealed. Of roseate terns he found eight nests, and none had more than one egg. The keeper at Raven- glass marks and disfigures each egg of the rarer terns with a violet indelible pencil. This protection against the depreda- tions of collectors and their agents might well be adopted elsewhere.
Photographs are a feature, though not the main feature, of this fairly lengthy volume on snakes. Mr. F. W. Fitzsimons's book on The Snakes of South Africa is exceedingly interesting despite many faults of form. The author is the director of the Port Elizabeth Museum, and he has for many years con- ducted experiments with snake poisons and studied the treatment of snake-bite. His book is profusely illustrated with figures from different sources familiar to students of zoology, and with a series of original photographs showing methods of catching, holding, and feeding poisonous snakes and of collecting their venom. These are unique and of a nature to make a reader who hates snakes shudder with horror. The faults of form are bad arrangement, much repetition, an un- wieldy addendum which should have been incorporated in the text, and wearisome cross-headings. The same figure, from the British Museum Guide, is unwittingly reproduced on p. 78 and p. 520. But the reader who is interested and who will quarry for himself in this mass of material will collect much original information and find many popular beliefs about snakes discredited by a man of science. The poison glands of snakes are homologous with salivary glands. The nature of the poison varies in different groups of snakes. Mr. Fitzsimons has no faith in any of the native or popular quack remedies. The supposed cures may be due to the fact that the snake was not poisonous or to the venom not having been injected. Permanganate of potash and a serum from horses that have been rendered immune have the sanction of medical science as remedies. The systematic part of the book is based on the work of Dr. Boulenger. Although called a new edition the volume is really a new book. Comparatively little in the way of semi-popular zoology has been written about poisonous snakes, and Mr. Fitzsimons's book is based on sound knowledge. The next book on our list despises the meretricious attractions of the camera, and rests its chances of success
on a good knowledge of animals' habits and a. forcible
Mr. F. forcible literary style. These seven vivid animal stories win
St. Mars has called People of the Wild are extremely good. The tales of the wolverine on a grouse moor and of the bob-cat wrecked on the Scottish coast bear a faint mem-
blance to similar themes in the author's earlier book. Of the seven we like best the adventures of the kite. The scene is laid in 1809. They are mostly murderous tales written in a slashing, dashing, slamming, damning style. But it is effective, and the slanginess is fairly well restrained. There is nothing like it for this sort of tale when it succeeds. Mr. St. Mars out-Kiplings Mr. Kipling in his most nervous and elastic mood. We think Mr. St. Mars rather exaggerates the swiftness and activity of the goshawk, and the female red deer is known as a hind and not a doe. The young red deer is also known not as a fawn, but as a calf. These trifles are very shocking to sensitive ears.
The four remaining books on our list are for the young. It is the duty of every parent who takes his children to the seaside to supply them not only with spades, nets, and buckets, but with some book which will tell them about the animals and plants they collect. There are many books on the com- mon objects of the shore ; but Mr. F. Martin Duncan's new volume has great merits. The Seashore is one of the best books for boys and girls that we know of. It is illustrated with a great number of excellent photographs. There is an index, and from hydrozoa to fishes upwards a great number of common marine animals are described. The text is clear and accurate, and sensible too, if we omit a few references to "Dame Nature " and "Father Neptune's Kingdom," which no popular writer seems able to avoid. Too many children are satisfied when they have merely identified and named their treasures. Mr. Duncan's book tells something about the life-history and the structure of the animals. There are good bits of advice on collecting, and some pages on managing a marine aquarium which give sound suggestions against overcrowding.
The Rev. S. N. Sedgwick is an imaginative writer who has published several successful books for children, in which natural history is combined with fiction. His latest is Nature's Nursery Tales, in which we meet again Maurice, the little boy who can make himself small. Mr. Sedgwick's humour is more exuberant and his language more facetious than ever. This is, however, a book for children, who will be more amused by Professor Topanhottom, the Uncle, Coppernob, and Dabcheena than their elders. The present writer frankly confesses that he is too old to enjoy seeing in print "skientific," " worsen-ever," or " a nofficer." A pantomime, in a drop of water, where cyclops figures as clown, a water-flea as pantaloon, and paramoecinm as a string of sausages does not appeal to him ; and though be can enjoy the story of Bluebeard he prefers it apart from the natural history of spiders. There are a number of small but good amateur photographs in the volume, and those who relished In Nature's Nursery will find this fantastic collection of tales to their taste. Mrs. K., who keeps the aquarium shop, is capitally described.
Animals Around Us, by Martin Merrythought, will also amuse children who care for rhymes about animals, which most of them do. The publisher's " puff," which accompanies the volume, for the kind assistance of reviewers, tells us that " this book gives very pleasant little descriptions (in amusing verses) of a very large variety of the animals of Great Britain." Having read the doggerel about our British mammals, we can certainly say it is amusing, and Miss Edith B. Holden's drawings are fairly happy and sufficiently accurate for children. Some are indeed exceptionally well drawn and lifelike. Mr. Merrythought apologises : " Too well I know it, I'm not what one would call a poet."
Lastly, we may recommend as suitable for rather older children The Book of Baby Birds, with illustrations by E. J. Detmold. It is a book of sumptuous appearance, but not expensive. The plates are very cleverly drawn, but sometimes rather pale in colouring. The text supplied by Miss Florence E. Dugdale is well written, sensible, and perfectly adapted to tell what should be known about the birds.
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