191 3« Reviews. i6i 
REVIEWS. 
ECONOMIC ORNITHOLOaY. 
The Food of some British Wild Birds. J3y Walter E. Colli nge, 
M.Sc, F.L.S., Pp. viii. + no. London: Dulau & Co., 1913. 
Price 4s. 6d. 
To this useful volume, the author has prefixed as a motto the aphorism 
that " Economic Ornithology has progressed to the point where intensive 
studies are demanded." A contribution to such intensive study is fur- 
nished in the original observations on the stomach-contents of twenty - 
nine common species of birds as to whose standing to the farmers' or 
gardeners' industry more or less doubt exists. Of these only seven — 
The Missel Thrush, Blackbird, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Bullfinch, 
Wood Pigeon, and Stockdove — are put definitely on the " black list ; " 
but Mr. Collinge believes that the Chaffinch, Rook, and Starhng are far 
too numerous and would become beneficial if a reduced population should 
obviate the necessity for grain-eating. Indeed, that hopeless pest, the 
House Sparrow, might become, Mr. CoUinge thinks, a reformed character 
were he no more abundant than the Redbreast ! A chapter on birds 
as distributors and destroyers of weed seeds suggests some interesting 
problems, and an extensive bibliography adds much to the value of the 
book. 
G H. C. 
ZOOLOGICAL NATURE STUDY. 
An Introduction to Zoology with Directions for Practical Work (Inverte- 
brates). By Rosalie Lulham, B.Sc. W'ith illustrations by V, 
G. Sheffield. Pp. xvi. -f 458. 32S text-figures. London : 
Macmillan & Co., 191 3. Price 75. 6^. 
This brightly -written volume differs in many respects from the familiar 
zoological text-book. It deals, to quote the preface, "almost entirely 
with the habits and external structure of common British invertebrate 
animals," details of internal anatomy being only occasionally introduced. 
Those who use it as a guide to practical work in the observation of live 
specimens and the stud}' of structure will acquire a good all-round know- 
ledge of the common animals of the hedgerow, woodland, pond, river, 
and seashore. The arrangement of the book is systematic. Perhaps 
Miss Lulham would have been well advised not to have followed the 
order of the ordinary biological class-work, and to have abandoned micro- 
scopic Protozoa as an introduction to the subject ; but intelligent teachers 
will be able readily to adapt the book to the needs of their own classes. 
Considerably more than half the book is devoted to the Arthropoda, and 
the account of the Insects is particularly well-done. The illustrations 
are generally good, but some of those especially drawn for the book are 
unequal in standard to others. 
G. H. C. 
