244 Literary Notices. 



reaction is always a disturbance, especially because it produces a large variability, 

 and can be avoided by the use of a key in which the reaction is a pressure down- 

 w^ard, preceded by no tension or by a slight downward one. In the paper other 

 interesting features of the tensions preceding reaction are discussed. 



In the seventh paper Professor Judd reports some experiments on practise 

 without knowledge, by the subject, of the results. Practice does not tend to 

 eliminate errors unless the subject knows what mistakes he is making. 



The last paper, by Professor Judd is an interpretation of the experiments on 

 eye-movement and illusion, and a theoretical discussion of the relation of move- 

 ment to consciousness. He discards the sensation of movement explanation of 

 geometrical illusions, and advocates a theory of sensory-motor equilibria and dis- 

 turbances thereof, very similar to the "vital series" of Avenarius. Sensation 

 and perception do not, according to this, depend on sensory currents alone, but 

 on the sensory and motor processes together. Professor Judd has renounced 

 the sensation school and joined what is admittedly a new and growing movement. 



E. B. H. 



Beebe, C. William. Some Notes on the Psychology of Birds.' Abstr. Proc Linn. Soc. X. T., Nos. 

 15, 16, pp. 40-47. 1904. 



Objection is made to attempts to ascribe too much in the behavior of birds to 

 instinct, the author maintaining that "Even a superficial study of the psychology 

 of birds compels us to attribute to them a highly developed intellectual and emo- 

 tional life." Special point is made of birds' "memories," of the "sympathy" 

 they exhibit, their "language," or means of conveying emotions by voice and 

 manner, and of their "individuality." It is stated that "birds show us examples 

 of revenge being taken after long and patient waiting for a favorable opportunity," 

 and that "crows have been known again and again to sit in judgment upon one of 

 their number, and to sentence and punish it with death"; but the facts upon which 

 these conclusions are based are not stated. As evidence against current views of 

 sexual selection two instances are cited where it was not the most showy and pug- 

 nacious males that succeeded in winning and mating with the female bird. In- 

 teresting notes are added upon the behavior of wild birds that visit the New York 

 Zoological Park, for which a high order of intelligence is attributed to them. Mr. 

 Beebe has apparently improved his excellent opportunities as curator of the birds 

 at the Park to make many valuable observations on their habits, and it is to be 

 hoped that he will sometime set them forth in a fuller and more complete form 

 which will enable his readers to make impartial judgments of their own upon the 

 amount of "intelligence" implicated in them. L. j. C. 



Lydell, Dwight. The Habits and Culture of the Black Bass. U. S. Fish Com. Bull, for 1902, pp. 

 39-44, pi. 8. 1904. (This paper was also published, with minor differences and more illus- 

 trations, in Trans. 3IJ/ Ann. Meeting Am. Fisheries Soc, 1902, pp. 45-57. 



Mr. Lydell, who has had an extensive experience in their practical manipu- 

 lation, gives in this paper a concise account of the habits — especially the breeding 

 habits — and the culture of the black bass. The former will be of most interest to 

 readers of thhjournal. It is found that the nest is built by the male fish alone — 



'Revised and rewritten since first published in the Seventh Annual Report of the N. Y. Zoological 

 Society, for the year 1902. 



