BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



"BIRDS USEFUL AND HARMFUL." 



In an age so essentially utilitarian, when 

 wild birds are being everywhere called up for 

 judgment according to the value of theii 

 contribution to man's pocket, it is surprising 

 that none of the abundant books about birds 

 that have issued f i om the press of late years 

 lias been written from the economic point of 

 view. It is also fortunate, since the know- 

 ledge of the subject existing in this country 

 is wholly insufficient and prejudices are 

 boundless ; and it is doubly fortunate 

 that the work on the subject which now 

 appears, " Birds Useful and Birds Harmful' 

 (Messrs. Sharratt & Hughes, Manchester 

 University Press), bears the names of two 

 such authorities as Mrs. Owen Visger, a life- 

 long student and observer of birds in the open, 

 and M. Otto Herman, the head of the Royal 

 Ornithological Bureau of Hungary, a country 

 which has done more than any other in 

 Europe in the definite study of economic 

 ornithology. The book in its original form 

 was prepared by M. Herman by direction of 

 the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture, 

 embodying the result of observations made 

 by correspondents of the department in all 

 parts of the country, and of dissections. To 

 the translation Mts. Visger has added full 

 notes on the position of the various birds in 

 Great Britain, necessarily qualifying in some 

 cases the verdict of the Hungarian naturalist. 



A few extracts will best explain the line 

 taken by the authors : — 



" In the abstract there are no useful and harmful 

 birds, as such. The bird exists as a product of 

 nature, to fulfil, like everything else, the tasks 

 allotted to it by nature and in nature, which no 

 other creatine can perform. . . . Therefore for 

 the good of the birds — and also of man — we must 

 carefully reflect what it is our duty to do and how 

 we can best do it. . . . 



" After all, the birds' worst enemy is man, with 

 his ignorance or, still worse, his cupidity. He has 

 plundered the nest and destroyed the brood ; he 

 grudges every grain of corn which the bird has 

 richly deserved by its work throughout the year. 

 Steamers and railroads make it possible for birds, 

 which are caught by millions, to be sent alive into 

 the great cities as delicacies of the table. So from 

 year to year they are becoming rarer. 



" So much the more are we bound — for the good 

 of heart and soul as well as for the blessing of the 



land and its workers — to protect the useful birds as 

 much as we conscientiously can. 



"The conceptions of 'useful' and ' noxious ' are 

 merely human one3 ; and man can, by cultivation 

 or the contrary, alter the normal conditions ; and 

 may, consequently, modify the character and habits 

 of birds also. Agriculture on a large scale, modern 

 forestry, the draining of territory — all these things 

 alter the fundamental conditions of animal life; and 

 if these modifications in respect of birds arc injurious 

 to man, it is in the interests of man to adapt them 

 artificially for the benefit of birds ; and if by 

 cultivation man deprives useful birds of their 

 natural nesting facilities, he ought to provide them 

 with artificial ones." 



The economic classification of birds being 

 purely arbitrary and unsettled, as there 

 is something to be said for and against most 

 species, some exception may be taken to 

 the label " useful " and " harmful " on the 

 drawings of birds, by M. Titus Czorgey, 

 which illustrate the volume. In this country 

 at any rate it is hardly necessary to black- 

 list species like the Raven, Bittern, Harrier, 

 and Goshawk, the rare sight of which marks 

 an epoch in a bird-lover's life, or others like 

 the Grebe and Wild Duck and Kingfisher 

 whose increase is welcomed by all observers of 

 nature. The verdict is, however, professedly 

 from one standpoint only, and Mrs. Visger's 

 interesting portions of the text form a 

 sufficient commentary. With her judicious 

 and sympathetic annotations the book 

 provides for English readers, as it has done 

 for Hungarian, a most helpful and trust- 

 worthy handbook which should be of great 

 service to farmers, gardeners, and students. 

 The illustrations are in black-and-white, but 

 in many cases they express the bird and its 

 markings very happily. A copy of the work 

 has been graciously accepted by H.M. the 

 King. 



THE VALUE OF THE ROOK. 



The first number (May, 1909) of the 

 Revue Fra?igaise d'Omithologie, Scientifiquc 

 ct Pratique (14, Rue Antoine-Roucher, Paris), 

 contains a valuable and interesting article on 

 the Rook, from the point of view of his 

 utility, by M. Xavier Raspail. The following 

 is one of the facts M. Raspail narrates : 



"■ In the year 1902 I received a letter from a 

 large manufacturer who had had for some years 



