Dog's delight
NORMAN COLLINS
Birds of Asia A. Rutgers illustrated from the lithographs of John Gould (Methuen 72s) This interesting hybrid, embodying the charac- teristic features of both coffee-table and bird- table, will give pleasure to all members of the family, human and canine alike. It is to the pictures that homo sapiens should turn. Here he will find 160 beautiful colour plates from the famous lithographs of John Gould. And these are reward enough: they are enchanting.
Canis familiaris, on the other hand, is notoriously poor at distinguishing colotut and downright bad at interpreting two-dimensional images. He will have to rely on the text. But here he won't do too badly, either. For Mr Rutgers, the eminent Dutch ornithologist, has clearly had his secondary public in mind throughout.
Thus, old Rover needn't bother even to roll over for so much as a glimpse of the splendid Black-Naped Oriole plate. His master's voice will be there to tell him that: 'The main colour of the upper and under part is golden yellow . . . the crown, neck bridle and the feathers round the eye are black.' And, if the Green Magpie is merely so much monochrome to poor Rover, he has Mr Rutgers's word for it that 'the predominant colour is green.' Not that the text is a mere colour catalogue. Indeed, if it is a literary household in which Rover has been brought up, there should be an appreciative thump-thump from the hearth- rug when he learns, of the Magpie Robin, that 'as a songster, it heralds the dawn.'
Even so, the reader-aloud must be prepared here and there for a whine of sheer anxiety, or even a growl or two. Ears will certainly be pricked up when, for example, Mr Rutgers gives the advice that the Great Argus Pheasant needs 'a very large aviary and a layer of straw
should be strewn on the roosting place dfiring the winter.' Because old Rover knows perfectly ' well that the Great Argus, for which eXport licences from Malaya are practically unolitain- • able, costs about £300 apiece, and needs a ' good deal more than a layer of straw to see it safely through our annual discontent.
In short, ornithologists living- in council flats where dogs are not allowed, should appeal to -the publishers for a half-price, slim-line volume of the plates alone; and stray dogs without masters should be told simply not to bother their shaggy heads about such matters.
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