Abstract
lT would be difficult to find a worthier disciple of Gilbert White than Mr. Warde Fowler. Many of White's most exact and enduring observations were made on birds, and the “Natural History of Selborne” has furnished his imitators with descriptions of the characteristics of the Stone-curlew, the Ring-ousel, the House-martin, the Sand-martin, the Goat-sucker, and many more of the birds of which he recorded the habits and movements. But Mr. Fowler's writings are not mere paraphrases of his prototype's. He is gifted with the “nice observation and discernment” required by every student of nature; and he can express himself in attractive language— attractive because it is unaffected, and because it is devoid of thin sentiment and gush. The result is that the papers reprinted in this volume are really valuable contributions to ornithology. To remark that there is not a dull page in the book may be a trite saying; nevertheless, so far as we are concerned, it is a true one in this case. What could be more readable than the chapters on the birds of the Engstlen Alp, and the birds of Wales; and where will you find a better example of careful and painstaking observation than is afforded by the account of the Marsh Warbler in Oxfordshire and Switzerland? The chapter on the songs of birds is most interesting; that descriptive of Aristotle's writings on birds, (in which fact and fiction are given equal prominence), should be read by all naturalists; and the biography of Gilbert White shows that the author is saturated with the spirit of the naturalist whose work has had such a wide influence upon natural history during the last hundred years.
Summer Studies of Birds and Books.
By W. Warde Fowler. Pp. 288. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1895.)
Forest Birds; their Haunts and Habits.
By Harry F. Witherby. Pp. 98. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Tübner, and Co., 1894.)
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Summer Studies of Birds and Books Forest Birds; their Haunts and Habits. Nature 51, 341 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/051341a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/051341a0