28 AUGUST 1926, Page 27

SAVE AUSTRALIA. By Sir James Barrett. (Macmillan, 8s. 6d.)—Sir James

Barrett pleads for the preservation of the indigenous flora and fauna of Australia. ` Except in certain places where enlightened citizens have protected them they are all disappearing," he complains. Among all the inter- esting essays here brought together in illustration of his subject none is more interesting than that by Mr. Leach, upon Australian Birds. The widespread notion that they arc ngless is, of course, a fiction. Australia " is the home of the most highly developed and specialized of birds." The Bower-birds which make a bower or play-house distinct from a nest are without exception the most extraordinary and most interesting group of birds found in the world."