Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/719

Rh with the Sultan, who "decorates" him. Proceeding down the coast to Natal, our traveler turns inland to Johannesburg—the city of Gold—and Kimberley, going thence to the Cape Colony. In coming up the west coast the first district visited is Angola, where the habits of the natives and the arrangements for trading with them furnish much material of interest. Mr. Vincent made an extended exploration of the Congo Free State, having an opportunity to accompany the managing director of the Upper Congo Company in an expedition to explore branches of the Congo where no settlements of whites existed, and establish posts upon them. The Cameroons, the Niger Territory, the Guinea Coast, the Cape Verde, Madeira, and Canary Islands are visited in turn, and the circumnavigation of the continent is completed when Gibraltar is passed once more. The illustrations, all full-page plates from photographs, are a valuable feature of the book. They include views of cities and native village-!, portraits of prominent personages, pictures of natives showing their characteristic dress (or lack of it), dancing girts, scenery, industrial operations, etc., etc. The author's descriptions are eminently satisfying, and they are so because, in addition to the main facts, he is not too dignified to put in those characteristic details which fill the gaps between the outlines and give continuity to his word-pictures.

is one of the most attractive and, at the same time, useful books that has come to our notice on this subject. Mr. Chapman is particularly well qualified, by long and enthusiastic study, to teach us about birds; and he has adopted an arrangement in this work which makes the subject extremely interesting, and the book a very easy one to use.

It is unfortunate that many of us are so entirely ignorant of bird life that one of the most varied and beautiful of Nature's creatures has no place in our landscape pictures; and as for their language, we are in even a worse plight. During a recent walk through the woods with a city friend, a wood thrush suddenly gave voice some little distance ahead of us. The friend immediately remarked that he didn't know crows lived in the woods. Such absolute ignorance as this is of course rather rare, but some of us are little better off. For many, a knowledge of bird lore is simply an addition to the pleasure obtained from out-of-door life; but to the large agricultural class it has an important economic value, and to the scientific philosopher the bird fills an important place in the evolutionary scheme. Mr. Chapman divides the science of ornithology into three branches—systematic, philosophic, and economic. The systematist classifies birds according to what are apparently their true relationships. "He is the ornithological storekeeper, and, having taken an account of stock, it is his duty to keep the books of the firm in order." The philosophic ornithologist, with the aid of these books, attempts to explain the reasons for and the effects of what he finds existing. "He is a seeker of causes." The economist, essentially practical, is impressed by the important part which birds play in the economics of Nature, and the value to the agriculturist of a knowledge as to whether their influence is, in a particular case, for good or evil. He says: "Few persons realize the value of birds to man. They are the natural check upon the increase of insect life; . . . indeed, it is not too much to say that without birds the earth would not long be habitable." On the last page of the introductory chapter is a heading, The Sentiment of Ornithology, under which the aesthetics of the science are considered. What impresses one most strongly in these few paragraphs is the enthusiasm of Mr. Chapman over his science. A perusal of simply this portion of the book assures one that the author's "whole heart is in his work," and that of course implies the very best results of which he is capable. In the next chapter he tells us how to study birds out of doors. How and when to find them requires a study of their haunts and migratory habits; how to identify them in the field, a consideration of the necessary outfit, such as gun, field-glasses, etc. This chapter is closed with some hints on keeping note-books and journals. Chapter III deals with collecting and preparing birds, nests, and eggs for museum specimens, and the care necessary to keep