WILD ANIMALS IN BRITAIN • By Frances Pitt
There are not many books dealing with British Mammals that are of interest to the casual naturalist, and this one (Bats- ford, 8s. 6d.), though somewhat sketchy, should be useful, as it is written in simple, non-technical language. Unfortunately, the information it imparts is too frequently interrupted by anecdote and digression, which, presumably intended as a sop to the lay reader, serve no purpose except to show that the authoress has kept some queer pets in her time. Miss Pitt writes in a flat, unreal style, with much overworking of the adjectives " wee " and " dainty " and the adverb " ever " (meaning " always ") ; but occasionally the interest of her subject causes her to rise above these limitations, as in the admirable descriptions of the wild cat, the badger and the seal. Wild Animals in Britain, like its two companions, Wild Birds and Wild Flowers in Britain, is extremely well produced, with many excellent photographs, some colour reproductions, and a number of Bewick woodcuts. Of the latter Miss Pitt says : "• We may not think them such exact portraits now, but no one will deny their beauty of line and quaint charm, and they afford the reader the opportunity of comparing eighteenth-century woodcuts as applied to Natural History with the work of the camera today." They do : and there can be little doubt that the photographs, good as they are, cannot finally challenge the careful eye and loving observation of this naturalist who pub- lished his woodcuts nearly a century and a half ago.
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