46 The Oologisis' Record, June i, 1922. 



irritant, gizzard-fretting, dyspeptic influence. But the main point 

 is, that in a bird with so strong nutritive impulses, it is Httle wonder 

 the reproductive emotions are degenerate. There is too much 

 hunger and gluttony for the higher development of love." 



[After reading the above we set to wondering whether the Cuckoo 

 would be able to incubate its eggs, even if it were so minded. To 

 secure enough food both to satisf}' its appetite and to maintain its 

 bod,y-warmth sufficiently for the function of incubation, and 

 handicapped already by its diminished blood-supply,* would it 

 not have to leave its eggs so long and so often as to frustrate 

 their incubation ? Perhaps some of our readers will tell us if in 

 some allied genera, which share some of our Cuckoo's disabilities 

 and appetites but which are not parasitic, the males have to 

 feed the sitting females. — ^The Editor.] 



NATURELAND. 



Dr. Graham Renshaw commenced in January last, the publica- 

 tion of " Natureland," a quarterly journal of natural history, which 

 should make a strong appeal to the all-round naturalist. Already 

 it has contained a great deal of matter of interest to the ornithologist, 

 and as it is produced in a most artistic style, we have no doubt but 

 that it will grow and prosper. The subscription is 105. 6d. per 

 annum. Prospectus may be had from Dr. Graham Renshaw, 

 Bridge House, Sale, Manchester. 



SMALL BIRD SANCTUARIES. 



Fortunate in the possession of a terrier which will only tolerate 

 a dead cat, and surrounded on all sides b}^ woods, we have been able, 

 with some success, to make our small wild garden a miniature 

 bird sanctuary, and have been able to get intimate peeps into bird 

 life which we might otherwise ha\'e missed altogether. We cannot 

 pretend to claim anything like the numbers of breeding birds 

 mentioned by Mr. Gilbert Grosvenor in" The Book of Birds "(O.R., 

 Vol. I, page 70), but we think a brief record of what has been done 

 may stimulate others to see what they can do. 



An absence of cats is, we feel sure, the main desiderata, but 



* -The F^volution of Sex," p. J77. 



