136 Recent Literature. [j" n 



to supply the desired information, or to furnish him with some of the needed 

 material. 



In a second paper ' he describes some bird bones from Kitchen Midden 

 deposits on the islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix. These represent 

 nine species from the former and seven from the latter. A femur and 

 tibia from St. Thomas form the basis of a new genus and species of Rail- 

 like bird, here named Nesotrochis debooyi (p. 516), while some vertebrae 

 from a large cooking vessel buried low in the deposit proved those of Gallus, 

 agreeing exactly with recent bones of a female domestic fowl. — W. S. 



Five Contributions to Economic Ornithology by Collinge. — Dr. 

 Walter E. Collinge of the University of St. Andrew's, Scotland, in recent 

 years has been the most active student of Economic Ornithology in Great 

 Britain. It is of interest to note that he is convinced of the superiority 

 of the volumetric method of analyzing the contents of birds' stomachs, he 

 being the first British investigator to adopt it. Two - of his recent papers 

 dwell more or less on this topic and in one of them he notes that upon 

 reexamination of his material representing the missel-thrush, adopting 

 the volumetric instead of the numerical method he formerly used, he is 

 compelled to reverse his estimate of its economic value. This is a striking 

 illustration of the difference in results under the two systems. In this 

 paper Dr. Collinge briefly treats of the economic status of eight common 

 British birds of which two are distinctly injurious, viz., the House Sparrow 

 and the Wood Pigeon; two are too numerous, and consequently injurious, 

 viz., the Rook and the Sparrow Hawk; one is locally too numerous, viz., 

 the Missel Thrush; and four are highly beneficial, viz., the Skylark, the 

 Green Woodpecker, the Kestrel, and the Lapwing. 



The other three papers 3 by Dr. Collinge note the necessity of rational 

 bird protection in Great Britain. All inclusive protection urged by propa- 

 gandists has been overdone, and reaction has followed. Despite the long 

 existence of a government bureau for the scientific investigation of economic 

 ornithology, the United States has not entirely escaped harm resulting 

 from the activities of bird protection zealots. It will be well if the lessons 

 we have had are taken to heart and trouble avoided in the future. Dr. 

 Collinge's summing up of the situation in Great Britain may be quoted: 



"1. That in the past the question of wild bird protection and destruc- 

 tion has never received really serious consideration. The objects sought 



1 Bones of Birds Collected by Theodor De Booy from Kitchen Midden Deposits in the 

 Islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix. By Alexander Wetmore. Ibid., pp. 513-522. 



2 On the Value of the Different Methods of Estimating the Stomach Contents of Wild 

 Birds. Scottish Naturalist, May 1918, pp. 103-108, 2 figs. 



Some Recent Investigations on the Food of Certain Wild Birds. Journ. Bd. Agr. 

 (London], Vol. XXV, No. 6, Sept. 1918, pp. 668-691, 17 figs. 



3 Wild Birds in Belation to Agriculture, Jour. Land Agents' Society, Vol. XVII, No 5. 

 May 1918, pp. 202-208, 1 fig. 



Wild Birds and Legislation, Ibid., No. 7, July 1918, pp. 278-2S5. 



The Value of Insectivorous Birds, Nature, July 25, 191S, Reprint pp. 1-4. 



