Australian

Finches

Because of the cost of pro ducing good illustrations, books about birds are a rare treat. For this reason alone, amateur bird watchers and professional ornithologists should all be pleased with Australian Finches, by Dr. Klaus Immelmann.

Immelmann, a brilliant young German, came to Australia on a study grant, 1959-60, to get the material for this book. He is now a lecturer in Zoology at at a German university.

There are 18 species of weaver finches in Australia, fairly widely scattered and it was the charm and variety of these tiny birds that led the young scientist to study them and not others that are perhaps better known.

Although all the material is new, the 22 colour plates come from an earlier work on Aus tralian finches by Neville W.

CaJey published by A & R in 1932 and now worth 10 times its original price. The book was never reprinted because no one was available to assemble the more detailed knowledge of the birds that became available after the first edition.

Over the range of the whole 18 species, the finches come in just about every colour there is.

The author investigated every aspect of their life and habits with the thoroughness of a Scotland Yard detective, setting it all out in language anyone can understand. There is, in each case, something that is rare in a book of this sort—directions for keeping the birds in an aviary.

(Australian Finches. Angus And

Robertson. 47/6.)