Australian

Nature

IF good wine needs no bush a book like Land of Wonder —the Best Australian Nature Writing doesn’t need a review.

The pieces in this large-sized volume are selected by Alec H.

Chisholm, himself a distinguished naturalist and writer.

His aim has been to “bring together the best writing by the best observers”, and these include such timeless characters as Sir Joseph Banks and Charles Darwin, as well as those of the present day.

The anthology is divided into seven sections —The Landscape; Trees, Flowers and Fungi; The Furred Animals; The Birds; The Reptiles; Insects and the Like; and Life in the Waters.

Well over 100 articles and extracts are included in the anthology, many of the authors not being professional naturalists at all—just appreciators of the Australian scene and good writers.

An excellent Australian gift

book.

JT.

(LAND OF WONDER. Angus and Robertson Ltd. 42/-.) ANOTHER Australian nature book that would make an

excellent gift, particularly for

homesick Australians living over seas, is Australian Bird Songs, an unusual publication of Jacaranda Press.

The book has a 7 in., 45 RPM disc, recording the calls of 19 Australian birds, tucked in an envelope inside the front cover.

The book itself comprises 20 pages of photographs and notes on the 19 birds in question.

The bird songs were recorded in the open by a Danish couple, Carl and Lise Weismann.

Doctor Allen Keast, a former Curator of birds at the Australian Museum in Sydney, provided the

commentary.

RL.

(Australian Bird Songs.

Jacaranda Press. 27/6.)