C URRENT LITERATURE.
BIRDS IN THE GARDEN.
Birds in the Garden : Studies with a Camera. By Granville Sharp, M.A. (J. M. Dent and Co. 7s. 6d.)—This is a pleasant little book, illustrated by about a hundred photographs of birds taken by the author and accompanied by notes on their habits and the best methods of obtaining photographs. The birds are the four tits, the spotted and pied flycatchers, the redbreast, the chaffinch, and the willow-wren, which are all (except the pied fly- catcher) common inhabitants of every garden in most parts of the country. The pied flycatcher, however, is not a bird to be seen every day, and the pictures and observations on its habits form the most interesting chapter of the book. Mr. Granville Sharp's method is to attract the birds he wants to photograph by food placed on a stand with a special perch on which the bird is compelled to alight. The camera is focussed and left close at hand, whilst behind a white back- ground is stretched. The birds soon get to disregard all this apparatus, and the photographer can watch from a place of con- cealment and hold the tube of the pneumatic release. The special perch and the white background are more or less original and very effective contrivances. Eight of the illustrations are photogravures, and we have never seen better ones. The bird stands out lifelike and clearly focussed on its perch against the light background, and the paper and method of reproduction are alike excellent. The remaining illustrations are very inferior to these, though successful enough in their way. Mr. Granville Sharp does not lay claim to the title of ornithologist, but he is a very careful observer of birds and their ways.
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