The Zoologist/4th series, vol 6 (1902)/Issue 732/Notices of New Books
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
The love of the Thames is scarcely confined to Londoners; it is always the popular river to Englishmen. Its upper waters are best known to the angler and the boating man; down its course to the sea has travelled from time to time the enterprise of Great Britain. There is an opportunity for a journal to be devoted solely to this river, while a Thames Natural History Society only requires formation for its success to be assured. We therefore gladly welcome Mr. Cornish's contribution to this delightful theme.
Some of the chapters in this book will be familiar to readers of the 'Spectator' and the 'Badminton Magazine,' and some travel a little beyond the strict scope of natural history; but Mr. Cornish is seldom dull, and always instructive. A river can be studied like a vast aquarium, by those who will use their eyes with persistent method, and the author has given some instances of how this may be done in his chapter on the "Insects of the Thames." Very suggestive, too, is the one devoted to the "Antiquity of River Plants," and their animal frequenters. "The creatures which lived on these prehistoric plants live on them now, and in exactly the same parts of the stream. The same shells lie next the banks in the shallows as lie next the bank of the prehistoric river of two million years ago whose bed is cut through at Hordwell Cliffs on the Solent."
We are glad to find that the efforts for animal preservation made by the Thames Conservancy and various County Councils have been followed with excellent results. The Herons from Richmond Park have extended their usual nightly fishing-ground, which formerly ended at Kew Bridge, four miles further down the river, almost to Hammersmith Bridge, and have even been heard at Chelsea. Since the middle of June, 1890, large shoals of Dace, Bleak, Roach, and small fry have appeared in all the reaches, from Putney upwards; while Smelts now ascend the Thames as they did before the river was polluted, and are freely caught at Chiswick. We may also hope for the plentiful appearance once more of the Crayfish, whose almost complete destruction was due to a disease, well known in France, which first appeared near Staines, and worked its way up the Thames.
We have heartily enjoyed the perusal of this nicely illustrated book, and trust that it may be the harbinger of other work on the natural history of our well-loved river.
Compared with most books on county ornithology, this publication is distinctly novel, and written on a different method; the presence or absence of birds in Gloucestershire is discussed more on a philosophical than on a reporter's basis; the geological floor, with its consequent surface flora, is shown to have its influence in the distribution of our avifauna, and we at length feel that there is some reason for the presence of the rare bird that fell to the gun of the faithful recorder. Gloucestershire is thus considered as a dominant partner, and the presence of birds less of a chance occurrence. We are not attempting to spoil a good book by absurd panegyric, but we do recognize that Mr. Mellersh has proposed a philosophical basis for a recognition of even the birds of a single county. To find there is a reason to be adduced on natural causation for the presence of a bird is tantamount to our believing in a purpose running through the ages. We know that causation is often confused with theory by many writers, but the still small voice is yet recognized in biology, despite the discrepancies in rival suggestions. In fact, evolution is slowly becoming an orthodox idea in contradistinction to the theories of specialists and doctrinaires. Science is more concerned with the reason why a bird is in a certain habitat, rather than with the fact that it is there; and that is a question that the author of this book shows is capable of discussion. His enumeration may or may not be imperfect; his conclusions may or may not be final; but he has contributed an instructive essay on the subject of his county's ornithology, and has inculcated a method which we may hope to see followed in philosophical ornithology.
Although this is a volume primarily addressed to the sportsman, it contains very much of interest to the naturalist, and refers to the somewhat little-known fauna of Nova Scotia. We wish the author would write another volume, discarding his shooting and fishing exploits, and giving us only his zoological observations. He has been alone with the animals he has shot and captured, he gives abundant hints of the observations he has made on their habits, and he has almost a responsibility to publish them. In fact, one passes over matter instructive in animal bionomics by being carried away captive to the domain of sport so well and enthusiastically described by Mr. Pattillo. If, however, he is a poor sportsman who is no naturalist, so is he a circumscribed naturalist who has never felt the ardour of the sportsman; and in this spirit the work may be read with advantage by both parties. The last chapter—not the worst in the book—requires supervision. Once more we meet with our old nautical enigma, the "Dolphin." Our readers will probably surmise that the "Dolphin" here referred to is a fish, the wellknown Coryphæna.
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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