BOOK REVIEWS
79
organisation of further surveys of mammal species (or groups of
species), the maintenance of our distributional records, and in the
wider field of Club activities, increasing the interest of young
people in our natural history interests.
Due to pressure of other business, Mr. Wheeler has asked the
Committee to relieve him of his position of Recorder, a post he has
held since the Recorder's scheme commenced in 1957. The Com-
mittee invited Mr. M. Seear to become Recorder for Mammals,
and were pleased to announce his acceptance. We are confident
that with his enthusiasm and energy this important aspect of
our work will flourish.
Book Reviews
Fish of Rivers, Lakes and Ponds. By F. J. Taylor. 88 pages.
British Birds of the Wild Places. By J. Wentworth Day. 87 pages.
Blandford Press Ltd. 1961. Price 5/- each.
Mr. Taylor's approach to his subject is that of an angler, and his book
contains much that would be of use to the young angler. He is also a
naturalist, and it is this aspect of his book that we must welcome most
warmly, as there are too few books available about fishes as animals
rather than as objects of the chase.
The notes on the food of each fish species as well as their behaviour,
breeding and distribution are informative but not too detailed for quick
reference or easy reading. The net has been thrown as widely as possible
to include nearly all the freshwater fishes with any claim to be British,
for example, such uncommon natives as Shads and Sturgeon, as well as
the introduced American basses, the Pike-perch and the Wels.
I feel that more details of the identifying features of our fishes would
have been worth including. A systematist would boggle at the classifica-
tion of fishes adopted in the book, and if, in a book of this nature, it is
necessary to refer to Daphnia in the plural why not call them water-fleas
instead of Daphniae?
Perhaps this is carping, for I really do welcome this book and only
regret I did not have it on my bookshelf as a child when I longed to
learn about fish, but could find no readable book on the subject.
British Birds of the Wild Places is written in a very different vein, and
for those who appreciate Mr. Wentworth Day's style this is an enjoyable
book. Much of it reflects the author's prejudices and preferences for birds
as characters and the whole tone of the book is one of anthropomorphism.
And why not in a work of this kind? Nevertheless, there is much that is
good and instructive for the young beginner in this book, and the author's
knowledge of Essex and its birds makes it of particular interest to us.
The reviewer, as a naturalist "with a museum mind" and a "tumbler
among pickled skins and Latin names" (p. 51) is pleased to admit to
enjoying this book very much. Can one say more of a book than that the
chapters on marsh and sea birds, sent me in imagination back to relive