Bird Display : An Introduction to the Study of Bird
Psychology. By Edward A. Armstrong. (Cambridge University Press. 2ts.)
Shorter Notices
Bird Display : An Introduction to the Study of Bird Psychology. By Edward A. Armstrong. (Cambridge University Press. 2ts.)
IF Mr. E. A. Armstrong's powers of exposition were as commendable as his industry, his Bird Display would be a Nature book of the first importance. Nevertheless, it is a notable contribution to, scientific ornithology. Mr. Armstrong has put in a lot of hard work among the literature of birds, and has dragged out every reference he could find with bearing on the symbolic and stereotyped movement of birds, which are generally classed as display. Full bibliographical details are given. It is high time an effort was made to gather all important observations on the displays of birds into one book, and it was very courageous of Mr. Armstrong, who is not a trained zoologist, to attempt the task. If those professional zoologists who have made a special study of birds complain that his book has not been very critically compiled, clearly arranged or lucidly written, the onus is on them to produce a better work on the same lines. Up to now they have done no such thing. Lest these remarks put off the lay-reader, I hasten to add that the book is crammed with remarkable facts about birds, and has some good photographs. The writer is to be congratulated on having made this useful essay.
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