THE LOVE OF WILD THINGS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1929, Page 19

THE LOVE OF WILD THINGS

'Tho Great Winding Road." By Oli,ver G. Pike. London: Herbert Jenkins, P.Z.S., F.K.P.S.

In this narrative of "The Adventures of a uaturalist on the roads oi! Great Britain," lovers of bird life will find much to enjoy. The avifauna of New Zealand and of the British Isles vastly differ, but introduced British birds have done remarkably well in this country, and some of them too well, in the opinion of the fanner. However, the lato Mr. Thomas Cheeseman, of Auckland, eminent botanist as ho was, was a keen observer of bird life, and had a profound knowledge of it as an ornithologist of repute. It was his opinion that 'birds earn their keep" whenever the question of their depredations on fruit and crops was raised. It is a curious fact, as many city gardeners know in the principal cities of the Dominion, that insect pests arc ; or seem to be, more plentiful in their gardens than in gardens well out in the suburbs, the reason possibly being that birds are much scarcer in the cities for want of cover, and the- sparrow is too' busy in the roads to bother very much about insect hunting in the limited garden of the cities with the hazard of cats to be reckoned with. Mr. Pike remarks upon the adaptation of the ways of birds in Great Britain to the modern speedy transport, especially of motor-cars, and how they will permit themselves to be observed from a stationary car if its occupants keep quiet. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, | whose place is set among wild things in the New Forest, and who is also a conspicuous personage in British motordoin has written the introduction to this estimable work on British birds, and ho pleads with motorists to 'travel observing rather than to fast, to have your eyes rather than your throttle open." Mr. Pike has been observing birds and beasts from his car for nearly thirty years, beginning with a Panhard, since then he has driven thousands of miles along the wilder parts of England and Scotland on the look out for wild things, and he has seen and noted much. He records an unforgettable incident of a fierce fight iv mid-air between a kestrel and a stoat, in which both fell to the ground dead. The combats, loves, matings, homes, and other incidents in the lives of the wild things of Britain have been seen by Mr. Pike from his car, and faithfully and graphically recorded, and some of them photographed. His car has been well used as a means to a good cutting, rather than in speed making. His dramas of birdland arc a delight to read. He asserts that the best ratcatcher is the brown owl, which will do more work in a. year than a pair of professional ratcatchers working whole time on the job. The more one reads about the lives of beast and bird iv Great Britain and iv other countries the more- one realises with Mr. Pike, how much there is to learn about them. Allowing for our differences in species and climate, there is much that he writes of Great Britain that applies to observation in New Zealand, but lovers of the wild things of the New Zealand bush will thoroughly enjoy the matter and style of Mr. Pike's "Great Winding Road."

Sir Almerie Fitzroy, who was Clerk to the Privy Council, has written a history of it from the earliest times. It is a serious and instructive work, but it is enlivened with many curious and entertaining episodes from the Council records. Professor Dicey said of the Privy Council that it embodies "the history of all tho greatest institutions whicli make up our nation!)l constitution." Ho added, what Sir Almerie Titzroy endeavours to bring out in this 'Murray book<: that.tho Privy Council lias not only shaped our institutions but has had a great .influence on modern ideas.