Welsh Journals

BOOK REVIEWS GENERAL British Birds; a field guide. Alan J. Richards, David & Charles (1979), pp 192, £ 4.95. Readers might be excused in thinking of this book as just another field guide to add to the strain on the bookshelf or to the pocket, financially of course. However this volume might be called a sub-species or geographical race of the more usually accepted field guide. Firstly, it does not attempt to cover too large an area; it is restricted entirely to the British Isles. No Ruppell's Warbler, Tristram's Grackle and the like from foreign parts to confuse the unwary. The illustrations are striking. Each species is depicted by a rather fine colour photograph, all by obvious experts though many are unknown names to me. Their value from an identification point of view is very variable, as there are no flight pictures or winter plumage pictures which we have come to expect in field guides. Delightful vignettes by Rob Hume accompany the text. Some are most evocative of the birds; the reader cannot fail to be stirred by the group of Choughs or amused by the Song Thrush wrestling with a stout worm, while the Swifts really have the feel of sultry summer evenings about them. The text for each species is divided into four main sections Characteristics, Voice, Habitat and Status, supplemented when appropriate by an additional item on Similar Species. Most species are adequately covered, though one notes the omission of the upward and forward leap of the Shag and Cormorant when diving. Do Fulmars really feed at sewage outfalls? The short introduction includes a list of bird-watcher terms, though the choice of these seems a little haphazard, and the reader would have benefited if more species could have been included. Indeed, the absence of certain species is a source of disappointment to me. By all means include birds like the Red Kite, Avocet, Stone Curlew and Waxwing, but what about equal treatment for the Garganey, Long-tailed Duck, Scaup, Curlew Sandpiper, Jack Snipe, Little Stint, Green and Wood Sandpipers, Bar-tailed Godwit, Great Skua, Rock Pipit and Cirl Bunting? One cannot leave these out of a book that claims to cover all the species you are likely to see in Britain during a year's birdwatching. Despite these opinions I have no hesitation in recommending this book, though one will not go far before needing to supplement it with the more conventional field guide. D.R.S. A Field Guide to the Land Snails of Britain and N.W. Europe. M.P. Kemey & R.A.D. Cameron, Collins (1979), pp 288, £ 5.50. The Collins Field Guides have proved themselves invaluable to the non-specialist naturalist, leading many people on to further study. This well illustrated book must be regarded as a worthy addition to the series, but in some ways it is difficult to use. The