Know Your Birds
pp. 38-39 · Read in the full issue
Guratorof the Whitney- Rothschild Collection, American • Muse um of Natural History, has § lv H n us Blr ds of the South-west Paci • , a is published by Macmillans and its Australian price is 17/-. • A useful tool for a practical purpose,” ™ *? ob Ar rt Mur P h y> chair man of the New York Museum’s Depart- B i rds ’ cal l? this field S uide to futle known 31 ™ 3 ° f 3 reglon hitherto His reas ?h for compiling it, the author Says ’ that i, Shortly after the first of sail5 ail ? rs iL nd J; ro °P s had reached New Caled oma the New Hebrides, the Solo- I£ on * slands ’ and other Pacific outposts, mei -l^ an i ,^ useum began to be fl ooded with letters asking information ab out the natural history of the islands and aroh ipelagoes And high among these wSmIIS ere CallS f ° r a popular book on ul tS" nie : , i,f T^ 6 9. f South-west Pacific bird ™* 8 B ? in i 1 8 for although 90 u or ce i lt * °t t 5 e sub " s P ecies have probably described next to nothing is known the life histones of most and Mr.
(Continued on Page 37)
Mayr hopes that other naturalists will be stimulated to add to the scanty informa tion now available.
He pays tribute to pioneers like H.
Hamlin in the New Hebrides, L. Macmil lan in the same Group and in New Cale donia, and W. Coultas in Micronesia and the Solomons; and does not forget to mention earlier observers like E. L, and E. L. C. Layard, and the Swiss-German scientist Fritz Sarasin, in New Caledonia and the Loyalties.
He might have added that several young scientists with the US Forces dur ing the war collected valuable informa tion on birds as part of their jobs; and that the Whitney and Farnsworth expedi tions before the war showed that Ameri can interest was growing.
This is a useful handbook which Is lands residents will be glad to have by them, and one does not need to be a trained observer to profit from its pages.
The coloured plates and other illustra tions will be a help in identifying species