266 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



this valuable food-fish, and the Gannet and other handsome 

 denizens of our sea-cliffs may be left in peace, to gladden 

 the eye of the naturalist and to add a touch of animation to 

 the lonely stacks and islets which lend variety to our coasts. 

 The second of Mr Gurney's papers x deals with the Gannetry 

 at "The Stack," Orkney Islands. The article draws 

 attention to the recent valuable observations by the Duchess 

 of Bedford, as recorded by her in our August issue. One 

 of her photographs (our Plate IV.) is reproduced, as are also 

 the estimates she formed as to the number of birds, breed- 

 ing or otherwise, which inhabit the island. 



The food of nestling Sparrows forms the subject of a 

 paper by Walter E. Collinge. 2 The observations are based 

 upon the examination of the stomach contents of over 280 

 specimens, spread over a period of two years, and obtained 

 in both suburban and fruit-growing districts. Tables are 

 given in full detail, and these show conclusively that the 

 staple food consists of injurious insects. Since it may be 

 assumed that during the nesting' period the adult birds 

 partake largely of the same food as their offspring, the 

 role of the Sparrow appears, after all, to be a useful one, and 

 the author expresses the opinion that " if this species were 

 considerably reduced in numbers, the good that it would 

 do would probably more than compensate for the harm, 

 especially in fruit-growing districts." 



We welcome the appearance of another part of the 

 History of Britisli Mammals, the second which has been issued 

 since the lamented death of its original author, Major 

 Barrett-Hamilton. The present Part (number XVI.) appears 

 under the joint authorship of Gerald E. H. Barrett- Hamilton 

 and Martin A. C. Hinton, the latter of whom has undertaken 

 to continue this important work. The subjects dealt with 

 are the Orkney Grass-mouse {Microtus orcadensis), a number 

 of locally extinct Voles, the British Water-rat, with its two 

 sub-species the " South British " and the " Black " Water- 

 rats {Arvicola amphibius amphibius and A. a. reta), the 

 general characters of the sub-family Murinae, and the genus 



1 The ffo's, October 1914, pp. 631-634. 



- Joum. Board of Agriculture, October 1914, pp. 618-623. 



