Welsh Journals

BOOK REVIEWS The Birdwatcher's Key: Bob Scott: Warne: £ 3.95 ( £ 2.25 in limp edition). This compact guide is designed to provide instant reference to "every bird likely to be seen in the British Isles and north-west Europe". Endpapers show bird shapes and coloured page-edge marks give quick access to each species. The illustrations, by Don Forrest, are adequate in most cases, with 1,140 drawings illustrating 382 species in handy form for the rambling amateur. Moths in Colour: Leif Lyneborg: Blandford Press: £ 2.50. Some 336 species of moths are illustrated, and over 30 caterpillars. There is a general introduction and a description of each species indicating its characteristics, distribution, habitat and life history. The moths illustrated represent less than a twentieth of the species which can be found west of a line from southern Sweden to the Adriatic even so. British Birds of Prey: Leslie Brown: Collins: £ 6.00. This is the sixtieth publication in the New Naturalists series, now under the editorship of Dr. Margaret Davies, John Gilmour and Kenneth Mellanby. The author is a resident of Kenya and, although he has not spent much time in Britain, his standing as a world authority on predatory birds places him in a special position to write such a book. He is quick, however, to acknowledge the help he has received from experts, including Peter Davis and Peter Walters Davies on the Red Kite. The book describes itself as 'a study of Britain's 24 diurnal raptors': owls are out. Eight of the 24 species are scarce or very scarce vagrants; two, the Rough-legged Buzzard and Gyrfalcon, are fairly regular visitors; the other fourteen breed here four with less than 10 breeding pairs, two with less than 50 pairs, one with up to 100 pairs, four with up to 500 pairs, and only three species Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel exceed 500 breeding pairs. The author also deals with changes in habitats and status, food habits, breeding behaviour, pesticides and conservation. The book follows in the tradition of its predecessors, except that it has no colour photographs and the print is small, which is necessary to keep it to 400 pages. It was completed in 1972 and is, therefore, out of date on a number of points. Wildlife in Britain: Guide to Natural Habitats, Safari Parks and Zoos: Automobile Association: £ 7.50. The latest in the superbly produced series of AA publications, this book is edited by Kenneth Williamson (wildlife sections) and Geoffrey Schomberg (animal collections) and each of eight regions of England and Scotland and Wales is covered by a seasoned contributor. The Welsh section is written by Peter Schofield, Assistant Director of the Nature Conservancy Council in Wales. Mr. Schofield's knowledge and expertise are beyond question, but he nods occasionally. He states that "Nant Ffrancon, the Vale of Beavers, suggests that this animal was once present in Wales", butffrancon does not mean beavers which were last reported in Wales on the river Teifi by Giraldus Cambrensis. Then he gives Dinas Island as "4 mls. e. of St. Davids", confusing it with a headland