The Zoologist/4th series, vol 5 (1901)/Issue 723/Notices of New Books
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
A trip to South Africa is always enjoyable, especially if a halt is made at the Canary Islands, which can now be easily done by travelling on board one of the intermediate steamers of the Union-Castle line. Mr. Harris has visited both spots as an ornithologist, relying on his camera and not on his gun for the spoils he brought home, which constitute the photographs supplying the material for fifty-five plates. These illustrations alone were well worth publishing, but the author has also supplied some excellent field observations, especially as to nesting habits.
Mr. Meade-Waldo has already published a list of the birds to be found on the Canary Islands, and Mr. Harris has now written a good supplement on a different branch of the science. Nature has not exhausted herself on these islands. We have sailed along the coast of Fuerteventura, but even then did not realize the grandeur of its dreariness as we have by reading some of the pages in this book. It is the fate of most travelling naturalists to visit a region at a wrong or disappointing season, and not to do all that was expected. Mr. Harris seems to have had a similar experience, but he secured photographs of many nests and eggs, that of the Houbara Bustard being one of the most charming and realistic.
In South Africa, Mr. Harris found his happiest hunting-ground in the neighbourhood of the Knysna Forest, a region far too little visited by either ornithologist or entomologist. We are glad to see illustrations of the nest and eggs of the Secretary Bird, and the nesting site of the Hammerkop, though both require larger space than can be afforded in any ordinary book to give a real impression of their massive structure. The author also paid considerable attention to the shore-nesting birds, and gives instances of the intelligent manner in which some Plovers seek to render their eggs almost indistinguishable from their environment, Ægialitis pecuaria being a good example of this practice, and its nest is well-illustrated. As we look over these interesting illustrations, we feel that in regions where the birds have been collected and identified the old days of killing and skinning may be considered as closed. The work of the camera has only just commenced, and we would commend to those who have the opportunity, the great possibilities in going over the ground of the old naturalist travellers, provided only with the means of photography. 'The Camera on the Amazons,' the 'Photographer in the Malay Archipelago,' are books we would fain see and read.
This is another result of the good work accomplished on board the Royal Indian Marine Survey Ship 'Investigator.' In our last volume we noticed a similar publication referring to the Deep-Sea Brachyura and Indian Deep-Sea Fishes, and we now receive an enumeration of the Crustacea. But this is more than an enumeration, seeing that full descriptions of all the species are given; in fact, we have a monographic account of the results of an expedition that is a real evidence of an enlightened administration. Like all sectarians, zoologists must—apart from the larger questions—judge governmental departments by the support they give to their own cause. Whether imperialists or republicans, the duty of all zoologists is to see that science is not neglected by the State. A voyage of the 'Challenger' is far more important to us than the measures which seem often designed by well-meaning legislators to show their incapacity for recognizing the trend of evolutionary progress. The work of the Royal Indian Marine Survey Ship 'Investigator' covers a multitude of infirmities in Indian administration, and Dr. Alcock is to be congratulated on the valuable use he has made of his opportunities.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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