Recently published Ornithological Works. 305 



admirable work, and one which must have cost him immense 

 labour as well as research. Devices to snare birds date back 

 to the earliest times ; but in civilized communities they have 

 gone out of fashion since the invention and perfection of 

 firearms. Their employment is generally considered as ratlier 

 low, and even as not legitimate, especially when they interfere 

 (as in the case of grouse-netting) with what the user of a gun 

 looks upon as his prerogative. Apart from the question of 

 " game," there can be no doubt that fowling may at times 

 lead to a very serious diminution in the number of interesting 

 as well as useful birds ; and it seems important that legislation 

 should interfere, at least so far as to prohibit the capture of 

 birds during or dangerously near their breeding-time. In this 

 country fowling is chiefly confined to certain classes ; but on 

 the Continent it is still pursued as a pastime by persons of good 

 position, especially in Belgium, and above all in Italy. To 

 show how this acts, we may quote a Signor Fucini, who naively 

 remarks (p. 82) : — " The Shrikes, now comparatively rare, 

 were at one time extremely common. I remember that when 

 I was a boy I used to catch them with limed twigs and the 

 mole-cricket, and one could take forty or fifty in a day." If 

 one boy could do this, even for the fortnight of passage, small 

 wonder that the Butcher-bird is now rarer than it was. 

 Mr. Macpherson goes through the list of birds seriatim, 

 beginning with the Corvidre and working thi'ough the 

 Passerine birds ; he shows that the Picarise are less exempt 

 from pursuit than might be supposed ; he describes Parrot- 

 fowling ; and we leave the perusal of the chapters relating to 

 sport with the Owls under the conviction that a great deal of 

 ornithology may be learned by setting-up a Civetta or anEagle- 

 Owl and watching the behaviour of the species which come to 

 mob them. We are not surprised to hear that the interest iri 

 this branch is increasing, and there is quite an extensive trade 

 in Owls. And when the decoy-bird dies, he can be served up 

 as a dainty dish (see p. 167) ! With the capture of Hawks 

 and the use of the Shrike we are more familiar; Gannet- 

 catching is not unknown ; while the taking of waterfowl, 

 the subject of decoys, and the devices to circumvent game- 



