Welsh Journals

are at the unfair and excessive range of over 82 metres (90 yards). Food for thought! I am pleased to see Wild Geese on the bookshelf alongside Ducks of Britain and Europe. J. W. D. Wildlife in Britain and Ireland: Richard Perry: Croom Helm: £ 7.25. Although primarily a history of some aspects of wildlife ecology in these islands, from the time of the receding ice sheets, this book makes constant reference to man's own history and his impact on wildlife. The author enquires into the fate of the mammals that failed to survive elk, the wild horse, the aurochs and other wild cattle, the beaver (last reported on the river Teifi), the wild boar, the lynx, the brown bear, the wolf (the last was killed not at Killiekrankie in 1680 but in the Monadhliath in 1743). He also presents interesting and little known facts about surviving mammals, birds and insects and, despite the threats from hunters, collectors, developers and polluters, he is optimistic for the future. The author cautiously states that 'to others Penarth means Bear's Head': in fact, it means a tall headland. He confuses the brut or history of Layamon (fl. 1200) with Brut y Tywysogion (the Chronicle of the Princes) of the 14th century, and there are other indications of his unfamiliarity with Wales and things Welsh. Mr Perry is one of our distinguished naturalists and he has drawn on his vast experience and knowledge to provide us with a fascinating book. Penguin Nature Guides: Penguin Books: £ 1.95 each. The publishers claim, with some justification, that this is 'a complete nature library of pocket- sized reference guides. setting new standards in nature publishing'. Few readers will realize, at first, that the books were originally published in Swedish or in Danish, so good are the translations. But the setting is Scandinavian and not all the species described are to be found in Britain. Six titles have already appeared and ten more are promised. Birds of Wood, Park and Garden and Birds of Sea and Coast are to be followed by three more volumes to cover all the bird species regularly nesting or occurring in Europe: Lars Jonsson's drawings are full of character and his text is lively. Fungi of Northern Europe, 1 and 2, are meticulously illustrated by the Swedish artist Bo Mossberg, and there are symbols to denote whether each is edible or suspect or poisonous. Fishes of the British and Northern European Seas is a tour of the rich North Sea bed where a Soviet sub- marine sailed through a shoal of sleeping herrings. Plant Communities describes twenty such communities ranging from the sandy sea-shore to the ice front. The Handbook of British Mammals: ed. Corbet and Southern: Blackwell Scientific Publications: £ 9.75. The decision to prepare this, the second edition of the book published under the same title in 1964, was taken in 1968. A great mass of information has become available since then and, consequently, the book has undergone considerable change and it has been completely revised. Parts of the original edition have been omitted or telescoped, and the present volume deals fully with all species found in the British Isles, and briefly with occasional vagrants and recently extinct