Abstract
DR. FRASER DARLING'S sojourn on the isolated island of Rona has repaid its hazards, since it gave him the opportunity of writing these essays as well as of observing that unique seal rookery during the breeding season. Many subjects are touched upon in the eight essays, ranging from the archeeology of the primitive chapel and cell of St. Ronan, which the author partially restored, to display of birds, social life of animals, animal sanctuaries, and an excellent account of the habits of the grey seal. The essays are vivid in their description, are attractively written and are illustrated by some beautiful photographs. If occasional inaccuracies creep in they are not serious. For example, in his strong plea for the creation of sanctuaries in Great Britain, the statement that “before Theodore Roosevelt's time a few people had thought, rather ineffectually, about the protection of wild life”, takes little account of the facts that Congress had set aside the Hot Springs Reservation in 1832, that the Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872, and that the American Ornithologist's Union had its law for the protection of wild birds in 1886, quite apart from much effective legislation in other countries.
A Naturalist on Rona
Essays of a Biologist in Isolation. By Dr. F. Fraser Darling. Pp. x + 138 + 28 plates. (Oxford: Clarendon Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1939.) 7s. 6d. net.
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A Naturalist on Rona. Nature 145, 810 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145810b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145810b0