GLEANINGS 143 



to the general inquirer after fishery information. The fish them- 

 selves are viewed in the light of their own habits, as creatures 

 aggregated on definite fishing-grounds determined by definite 

 physical conditions. Inquiry is made as to the impoverishment of 

 the North Sea through natural and human agencies, and special 

 condemnation is levelled at the inshore fisher and shrimper, " who 

 devastates the breeding and spawning grounds, kills the fry and the 

 young fish, and makes a desert everywhere." But, on the other 

 hand, some satisfaction is to be found in the success of such 

 experiments as those of transplanting fish from one ground to 

 another more productive, and of " herding " them in artificial fish- 

 ponds, for thus the natural yield is greatly increased. The second 

 part of the volume contains the author's opinions on fishing in its 

 human aspect : as the determinant of coast population, and as a mere 

 trade with wide and complicated economic relations. Here the 

 wages of the fishermen are discussed, as well as markets, modes of 

 selling, and profits. 



Valuable information is to be gathered from every page, and 

 author and translator have combined to make a subject of great 

 difficulty and complexity, clear and attractive. This English 

 translation is to be welcomed, not only for its own sake, but in the 

 hope that it may stimulate some expert on this side of the Channel 

 to discuss sea fisheries after a similar fashion, but from a British 

 point of view. — J. R. 



GLEANINGS. 



A fine example of the Wild Cat was obtained on the Applecross estate, Ross- 

 shire, in April last. From the record in the Field of 13th April (p. 744) we learn 

 that the animal, the sex of which is not stated, weighed over 15 lb., measured 40 \ 

 inches in length and 14 inches in height. 



In the Field of 13th April 1912 (p. 744) appears a paragraph by "A. R.," 

 which states that the Capercaillie is greatly on the increase in the Beauly district 

 of Inverness-shire and the neighbouring part of Ross-shire. The birds were 

 introduced at Guisachan, and are now fairly plentiful over a large area. 



W. J. Balfour Kirke contributes a note to the May number of British Birds 

 (P- 338) on "Fulmars breeding in Orkney." A few birds were reported at 

 Stromness in 1908, and a colony at Costa Head. In 1910 a small colony was 

 found on the cliffs to the north of Marwick Head, which showed an increase in 

 1911. 



More familiar names must be discarded ! In the Entomologist for May (pp. 

 151-152) Herbert Campion points out that the Dragon-fly hitherto known as 



