Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/116

92 would, however, be a misnomer for this publication, for it contains a host of good zoological observations.

Mr. Kearton has a fair word to say for London Cats. "I have recently seen it stated that the birds of London and its suburbs have decreased because of the Cats and increased population. Whilst recognising the folly of hating a dumb animal merely because it carries into operation an inherited liking for one particular kind of food, I must frankly confess that I do not love Cats; and it will be well to bear this avowal in mind whilst reading the following account of my experiences. This year I have known of the following species of birds having nests and eggs within five hundred yards of a Greater London farmhouse, boasting an army of no less than five adult Cats:—Pheasant, Partridge, Carrion-Crow, Missel-Thrush, Song-Thrush, Blackbird, Starling, House-Sparrow, Hedge-Sparrow, Robin, Wren, Barn-Swallow, House-Martin, Chaffinch, Lark, Whinchat, Red-backed Shrike, Yellowhammer, Moorhen, Lapwing, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Kestrel, Turtle-Dove, Whitethroat." Of course the retort is obvious, that these farm Cats were presumably well fed and housed, and that the worst feline marauders are those houseless and starving brutes which, ill alike for themselves and the birds, haunt the crowded abodes of man.

The author also gives his experience on a question now being discussed in these pages as to the nesting habits of the Moorhen. He states that during his residence in the neighbourhood of Elstree, owing to the depredations of Carrion Crows, "I do not think I can call to mind one instance of a Moorhen succeeding in hatching off her first clutch of eggs. The species has to depend for its perpetuation on the growth of reeds and rushes, which the old birds bend over their nests and thus hide their eggs."

The illustrations, as in Mr. Kearton's previous books, are again very charming: photography more than illustrates—it reveals—nature. No longer are her secrets to be pourtrayed by the imaginative artist; we have now reached the stage of actual representation. In time the traveller must illustrate his books by the aid of the camera, or not at all.