BOOK REVIEWS
139
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BIRDS OF HONG KONG. Compiled by Maura Benham. South China Morning Post, 1963. 97 pages. Numerous drawings. HK$5.
Miss Benham's book is a worthy successor to Dr. Herklots' Field Note Book and The Birds of Hong Kong, first published in November 1946. That was a book to which many owe a great debt as it enabled them to start or continue in Hong Kong that most fascinating pursuit which gives increasing pleasure as one's knowledge grows. Before that date, it was extremely difficult to identify Hong Kong birds as the only really good book available was La Touche's Birds of East China, which described in minute detail the plumage of over 700 species but did not indicate which of the species occurred in Hong Kong and did not give a clear idea of what the various species looked like in the field. Dr. Herklots' book gave field descriptions of Hong Kong birds for the first time. It is, however, now out of print and also rather out of date in that it is based on observations ending in 1948, since when not only have a large number of new species been recorded but a tremendous development of roads and buildings has taken place. This has led to considerable changes in the distribution of birds within the colony.
Miss Benham has wisely restricted the number of species described (98 out of a possible total of about 340) and this makes her book of greater value to the reader for whom it is intended — the visitor or newcomer to Hong Kong and the beginner of all ages. It cannot have been easy to decide which species to leave out, and the author has obviously taken into account the fact that visitors or newcomers from Europe will probably have a copy of the now famous Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe, which includes many of the birds, such as the Waders, which occur on passage in Hong Kong. All the birds which a newcomer or beginner is likely to see or hear are, however, included except for the rather surprising omission of the Indian Cuckoo.
The descriptions of the ninety-eight species are clear and concise field descriptions, and, in giving the length of a bird (from tip of bill to tip of tail), mention is made of the length of the