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Part 26

Birds of the Plains · Douglas Dewar — chapter 26 of 27 · ~736 words · public domain

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THE RED LILY MOTHER OF PEARL THE GARDEN OF EPICURUS THE CRIME OF SYLVESTRE BONNARD

for which I enclose_______

Name______________________

Address___________________

JOHN LANE, Publisher, The Bodley Head, Vigo St. London, W.

BOMBAY DUCKS

AN ACCOUNT OF SOME OF THE EVERYDAY BIRDS & BEASTS FOUND IN A NATURALIST’S EL DORADO

BY DOUGLAS DEWAR, F.Z.S., I.C.S.

With Numerous Illustrations from Photographs of Living Birds by Captain F. D. S. Fayrer, I.M.S.

PRESS OPINIONS.

Spectator.—“Mr. Douglas Dewar’s book is excellent. . . . A feature of the book is the photographs of birds by Captain Fayrer. They are most remarkable, and quite unlike the usual wretched snapshot and blurred reproductions with which too many naturalists’ books are nowadays illustrated.”

Standard.—“The East has ever been a place of wonderment, but the writer of ‘Bombay Ducks’ brings before Western eyes a new set of pictures. . . . The book is entertaining, even to the reader who is not a naturalist first and a reader afterwards. . . . The illustrations cannot be too highly praised.”

Daily News.—“This new and sumptuous book. . . . Mr. Dewar gives us a charming introduction to a great many interesting birds.”

Pall Mall Gazette.—“Most entertaining dissertations on the tricks and manners of many birds and beasts in India.”

Graphic.—“The book is written in a most readable style, light and easy, yet full of information, and not overburdened with scientific words and phrases. . . . The habits of the different birds are fully described, often in a very amusing and interesting manner.”

Outlook.—“Pleasant reading, with pretty touches of the author’s own fancy; a good deal of information agreeably conveyed. . . . The illustrations are of an extremely high order, constituting not only a beautiful, but a really valuable series of portraits.”

County Gentleman.—“Thoroughly entertaining to all who can appreciate either animal life as seen through practised eyes, or witty and humorous writing in any form. . . . The book is handsomely produced, and is altogether an attractive acquisition.”

Illustrated London News.—“Mr. Dewar . . . has collected a series of essays on bird life which for sprightliness and charm are equal to anything written since that classic, ‘The Tribes on my Frontier,’ was published.”

Indian Daily News.—“Mr. Dewar’s excellent book. . . . We sincerely hope that our readers will derive the same lively pleasure from the reading of this book as we have done.”

Yorkshire Daily Observer.—“This handsome and charming book . . . the author has many interesting observations to record, and he does so in a very racy manner.”

Dublin Express.—“Mr. Dewar’s account of the ‘Naturalist’s El Dorado’ is particularly captivating, and is rendered not the less so by the splendidly produced photographs of living birds.”

Manchester Guardian.—“. . . A series of clever and accurate essays on Indian natural history written by a man who really knows the birds and beasts. . . .”

Shooting Times.—“. . . a more delightful work than ‘Bombay Ducks’ has not passed through our hands for many a long day, and the way the themes are written are so much to the point. There is not a dull line in the book, which is beautifully illustrated. . . .”

Truth.—“. . . A naturalist with a happy gift for writing in a bright and entertaining way, yet without any sacrifice of scientific accuracy. . . .”

Western Daily Press.—“. . . The descriptions of the habits and characteristics of these ‘Bombay Ducks’ is a solid and welcome contribution to science, quite as valuable as the dry-as-dust descriptions of new species. . . .”

INDIAN BOOKS

KASHMIR: The Land of Streams and Solitudes. By P. Pirie. With Twenty-five Full-page Plates in Colour, and upwards of 100 other Illustrations by H. R. Pirie. Crown 4to (10 x 6½ in.). 21s. net.

This book is the result of three years’ wandering on the outposts of civilization, where author and artist proceeded by special permission of the Governor of India, thus being enabled to penetrate far into the wilds, especially along the Gilgit road, where, as a rule, none but a sportsman or an officer on duty penetrates. The volume has numerous illustrations reproduced in colour, line, and half-tone, and forms a work in which Kashmir is described by pen, pencil, and brush. In the colour illustrations the artist has caught the atmosphere as well as the natural features of the country she so ably portrays.

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