Birds in their Seasons. By J. A. Owen. (Routledge and
Sons. 2s. 6d. net.)—This is a book full of interesting matter. The total number of " British" birds is, we are told in the preface, three hundred and sixty-seven. But about a third of these are "more or less infrequent wanderers." Two hundred regularly breed here ; thirty-eight come annually, but do not breed. It is with these two classes that our author is occupied. They are divided into four classes by the various seasons. The division is hardly exact. The nightingale, for instance, heads the list of "Birds in Summer" ; as a matter of fact he is in evidence in what the almanacs describe as spring. When the summer quarter comes in he is heard no more; Mr. Owen knows this of course, and, indeed, expressly states it. But practically the nightingale, though he lingers here till September, is a bird of spring. Another of the " spring birds " is the woodcock. Might he not be assigned to autumn, for it is then that he makes himself known ? Anyhow, there seems a certain inconsistency in classing together two birds, one of whom comes to us in April, and the other in October. But this criticism, whether just or not, does not touch the interest and value of the book. It is the work of one who knows and loves the subject written about. A curious story is told of a sparrow- hawk that left the impress of its body on a window in a City rectory. Probably many birds visit London which the ordinary Londoner never sees or thinks of. The writer of this notice has seen hawks, owls, greenfinches, and other country dwellers in the very heart of London, near, it is true, to a large garden (Gray's Inn), and more than half-a-century ago.
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