Birds for Beginners
The Pocket Guide to British Birds. By R. S. R. Fitter and R. A. Richardson. (Collins. 21s.) THE number of pocket-size reference-books on British birds is a testimony to the difficulties -of producing a satisfactory one. Most of them include a selection of all the known facts about each species —its colour, behaviour, nesting habits, food, migrations and so on. The scope of the Pocket Guide to British Birds is explicitly limited ; it aims to help the novice to identify birds in the field. The text is divided into two parts—the main one being devoted to brief descriptions of the plumage, field characteristics, movement, voice, etc., of each species. The authors have shown excellent judgement in selecting for these notes just those points likely to be of value in making a rapid field identification. The only exceptions are some of the notes on movement, which are often unnecessarily sketchy, especially among the Passerines. In addition, there are a series of keys listing the birds under various characters of plumage, structure, behaviour and habitat.
Adequate illustrations are essential in a reference-book of this type, and those by R. A. Richardson are, with few exceptions, of a very high standard. The colours are more accurate than in any recent similar book ; and most of the birds are painted with obvious feeling for characteristic pose. There are over 1,000 illustrations, of which 600 are in colour. With their aid and the text, the novice should be able to identify any bird which he sees in this country, provided that he has a reasonable view of it.
A peculiarity of this book is that the birds are not arranged according to the scientific classification. In the text they are divided first into land, waterside and water birds ; and then, within these categories, given in order of increasing size. In the illustrations the birds are grouped according to habitat and colour. This arrangement may make identification easier for the complete novice, as the authors claim, but it is doubtful if this outweighs its many disadvantages. Even for the novice the natural classification often gives the best first step towards identification, and anyone likely to buy this book will almost certainly be able to tell owl from thrush, or eagle from pheasant. Once the beginner has learnt the names of a few birds, he will need pigeon-holes for the other facts he picks up about them—finches eat largely seeds, most warblers are summer visitors, and so on. Such pigeon-holes are provided by the natural classification, whereas the arrangement of this book can only be a hindrance to the acquisition of further knowledge. Further, the " unnatural " arrangement tends to concentrate attention on superficial characters, and not on essentials—so that the reader may think of a fulmar as a gull-like bird with a peculiar flight, rather than as a grey and white petrel. The time spent mastering the "ingen- ious "arrangement of this book would be better occupied in studying the outlines of the natural classification. The arrangement mars an otherwise excellent book.
R. A. HINDE.
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