242 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



heaped on the platform, beginning at one end, and the pile is 

 maintained at a height of from ^h to 4 feet, and regularly 

 sprinkled with water. The concrete basin below is kept 

 filled with water, so that when the maggots are fully grown 

 and crawl out of the manure, they drop through the platform 

 and are drowned. They are collected once a week or oftener 

 by draining the basin through a strainer fixed at the end 

 of the outlet pipe ; the latter is then plugged up again 

 and the water pumped back into the basin. A perusal of 

 this paper shows that the control of house-fly reproduction, 

 even on a large scale, by the use of a trap of the nature 

 described, together with the systematic treatment of large 

 accumulations of manure, is a comparatively simple matter, 

 with the additional advantage that the fertilising value of 

 the dung is much more effectively maintained than by the 

 careless, unmethodical treatment so often in vogue. 



In Miss Laura Florence's third Report on the Food of 

 Birds,^ the results are given of the examination of 891 birds, 

 representing 40 species. This valuable contribution to an 

 important subject is uniform in plan with the two previous 

 Reports, the contents of each bird's stomach being given 

 in detail, while a summary is given of the various kinds 

 of food devoured by each species. The most important 

 birds dealt with are the Rook, Starling, various Gulls, and 

 the Chaffinch. In the case of the last-named, about 42 per 

 cent, of the food consisted of cereals, 20 per cent, of the 

 seeds of weeds, and about 29 per cent, of insects. The 

 food of the Starling was found to be mainly of an insect 

 nature (about 58 per cent.), but bolh beneficial and noxious 

 species are devoured. Of Rooks, 292 specimens were 

 examined, the results showing that the species " undoubtedly 

 does a great deal of harm to cereal crops in the spring 

 months, and later it attacks potatoes." Both harmful and 

 beneficial insects are also consumed in large quantities, and 

 there is as )et much difference of opinion regarding the 

 economic status of this common bird. 



The second portion of James Waterston's " Account of 



' Tni/is. Hi^lilaud and Agric. Soc, Scofland, vol. xxvii., pp. 1-53 



(I9I5). 



