118 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 

 BOOK REVIEW 



[Vol. XXXVI 



Some Useful Australian Birds. Walter W. 

 Froggatt* It is of great interest to those on this 

 continent who are endeavouring to further the 

 cause of Wild Life Conservation to learn of the 

 similar activities of our enterprising brethren in the 

 Antipodes. The publication treated here should 

 go far to create an interest in the birds and it is 

 obviously impossible to protect them without that 

 interest. This work is profusely illustrated with 

 copies of the figures in Gould's Handbook of the 

 Birds of Australia, reproduced by the three-colour 

 process, and this alone should serve to extend the 

 value and influence of the work to both young and 

 older readers. The illustrations are placed through 

 the text, certainly a more convenient plan than 

 having them all bound in at the back of the book 

 and thus separated from the related text on each 

 species. 



After a preface concerning this publication and 

 its forerunners, there is an Introduction of fifteen 

 pages. The writer considers that the protection of 

 the native fauna must start from an economic basis, 

 and he shows that once this is appreciated the 

 sentimental reasons for protection will receive 

 sympathy. The danger of protecting injurious 

 species is given mention. 



A resume of the history of bird protection in 

 Australia is given under a general heading and 

 imder sections relating to the work of protection 

 societies and to the influence of literature. The 

 present protective act is said to give complete or 

 partial protection to all birds or animals not black- 

 listed. The law includes a description of all sanc- 

 tuaries. For enforcement, dependance is placed 

 upon police officers and honorary rangers. Bird 

 protection among the school children is furthered by 

 'The Gould League of Bird Lovers," founded in 

 1910. "It was John Gould who did in Australia 

 what Audubon had done in America," and it .is 

 indeed fitting that both great ornithologists should 

 have their names kept green by bird conservationists 



There is then a chapter devoted to the adminis- 

 tration of protective measures. Lessons are drawn 

 from experiences and practices in the United States 

 and Hungary, where, it will be remembered, the 

 Central Office for Ornithology was ordered by the 

 Minister in 1906, to present a scheme for the 

 supply of nest-boxes to the State forests, com- 



*Department of Agriculture, New South Wales. Some 

 Useful Australian Birds. Walter W. Froggatt, F.L.S., F.E.S., 

 Government Entomologist; President, Royal Zoological 

 Society, N.S.W.; Vice-President, Wild Life Preservation 

 Society; Vice-President, Gould League of Bird Lovers; Vice- 

 President, Field Naturalists' Society, N.S.W.; President, 

 Wattle Day League. Price 10s. 6d. Sydney: William 

 Applegate Gullick, Government Printer, 1921. 8vo., pp. 81, 

 62 coloured plates. 



prising 5,000,000 acres. The author is hardly 

 accurate in saying that the United States and 

 Hungary are the only two great agricultural 

 countries that have taken up the protection of 

 birds in a practical manner. The Province of 

 Canada passed an excellent law entitled "An Act 

 for the Protection of Insectivorous Birds, and Others 

 Beneficial to Agriculture," in 1864 (Chap. 52, 27-28, 

 Vict.) and the Province of Ontario passed a valuable 

 law entitled "An Act for the Protection in Ontario of 

 Insectivorous and Other Birds Beneficial to Agri- 

 culture" in 1873 (Chap. 45-36, Vict.). Further, in 

 educational work, Ontario was far advanced 

 twenty years ago. The publications of Mr. C. W. 

 Nash in this connection can hardly have been 

 known to the writer of whom we are speaking. In 

 1904 the third edition of his Birds of Ontario in 

 Relation to Agriculture was published, and he is 

 still actively engaged in bird conservation work 

 after more than half a century's devotion to this 

 cause. Other Provinces in Canada have also been 

 active and Ontario is referred to particularly, 

 because past conditions here are more familiar to 

 the reviewer, and because it is one of the older 

 Provinces. 



It is odd to find a bird writer in 1921 referring to 

 a few isolated flocks of Passenger Pigeons nesting 

 in the Michigan woods a statement that is at 

 least thirty years out of date. 



Reference is made to the history of bird protection 

 in other countries; Germany, Austria, Hungary 

 and Great Britain are referred to chiefly in this 

 connection. 



The usual arguments are advanced in favour of 

 the creation of bird sanctuaries. Prominenece is 

 given to the Yellowstone Park in connection with 

 the preservation of the Buffalo Canada and its 

 Buffalo are not mentioned, although the greatest 

 herd of Buffalo in the world is here. There were 

 more than 6,000 individuals in this herd at the 

 time of the last count. Nor is mention made of 

 the enormous areas of wild life sanctuaries in Cana- 

 da, the significance of which, in furthering wild life 

 conservation is scarcely appreciated. 



It is enough to cheer the hearts of bird lovers and 

 ornithologists the world over, however, to read of 

 the great steps under way to preserve the wonderful 

 fauna of the Australian Continent. This gains 

 new significance when it is remembered that our 

 sister Dominion has now the mandate for great 

 areas outside Australia proper, including Papua and 

 a portion of Polynesia. 



Under migration, there is much of interest con- 

 cerning the Australian area and allied questions 



