AUSTRALIAN WILD LIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 96, 26 April 1933, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN WILD LIFE.

One. of the charms of Australia to a visitor from New Zealand is its abounding bird life. It comes as a delightful surprise to find the centre of a great |city like Sydney filled with the gentle cooing of the little grey dove, at least till the council destroyed the big trees in Hyde Park. And the Australians love their birds and insects and are proud of their beauty. Wo have received two finely-produced books from Angus and Robertson on the animal life of Australia. "Australian Finches in Bush and Aviary" is by Neville W. Cayley, F.R.Z.S., and is devoted to the sciem tific description of the finches of Australia, those little living flashes of colour, which are so natural to the country. Beautiful flashing jewels, they frequent many parts of the country. This book describes their habits, and also gives full details

for the collector as well as the breeder, for many of these little beauties take readily to captivity and breed freely in aviaries. "What Butterfly Is That?" treats in the same manner of the butterflies of Australia, which continent contains some of the most lovely in the world. This is by G. A. Waterhouse, D.Sc., F.E.S., with a large number of coloured plates by Neville W. Cayley, F.R.Z.S., who illustrated his own book on birds in a charming manner.. This book is a guide to butterflies in Australia. It is greatly to the credit of the Commonwealth that even in the midst of a great depression they are bringing out books on their own natural history which can compare with any books of the kind published in the world.