Vol. XI IIT r, . T . . , 



l8g6 Recent Literature. 'X'Xl 



is made for their enforcement, and they are consequently a dead letter to 

 certain classes of people. A great many hirds are killed and many nests 

 broken up by boys. In the fall the country swarms with gunners. 

 Thousands of birds are killed for the milliners. The camps of Italians, 

 where employees engaged on public -works are quartered, furnish many of 

 these gunners. These men will shoot birds of any kind, anywhere and 

 on any man's premises. Everything that wears feathers is considered by 

 them as fair game." He adyocates the appointment of officers to enforce 

 the laws, and the education of children regarding the usefulness of birds, 

 and holds that it should generally be considered a crime to destroy insect- 

 eating birds. Laws, howeyer good, will not execute themselves, and 

 officers should certainly be proyided to rigidly enforce the statutes for 

 the protection of birds. 



Mr. Forbush has also recently published a paper on the economic status 

 of the Crow, 1 in which he treats of its migrations and general habits, 

 especially in relation to its food. After commenting at length on 

 previous reports on the food of the Crow, and giving many original 

 observations of his own on the subject, he closes his paper without taking 

 a very decided stand in regard to whether the Crow has been shown to be 

 more useful than destructive to the intrests of the farmer, Finally, after 

 weighing the evidence, pro and con, he says that "from what is now 

 known about the Crow's food we may conclude that, unless the birds 

 become unduly numerous, they are likely to be of great service to the 

 farmer. It will pay the farmer to sacrifice some portion of his products 

 to the Crow, proyided he uses care that the cunning bird does not over- 

 reach him in the bargain." 



A further excellent contribution to the literature of economic ornithol- 

 ogy is a series of papers by Miss Florence A. Merriam in recent issues of 

 ' Forest and Stream,' under the title, ' How Birds affect the Farm and 

 Garden' , and since separately republished.* The introductory pages treat 

 of the losses caused by insects, and the usefulness of birds in holding the 

 insect pests in check; some 40 species of North American birds are then 

 dealt with formally, followed by ' Conclusion', giving a list of some of 

 the most formidable of our insect enemies and of the birds that have been 

 proved to be their natural enemies. Speaking of the scientific investiga- 

 tion of the food habits of birds, Miss Merriam says: '"So far as it has 

 gone, the examination of the stomach contents of birds has proved that, 



1 The Crow in Massachusetts. By E. H. Forbush, Ornithologist to the 

 Board. Bulletin of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, Ser. of 1S96, 

 No. 4, August, 1896, pp. 24-40. 



2 How Birds affect the Farm and Garden. By Florence A. Merriam. Forest 

 and Stream, Vol. XLVII, 1896, No. 6, Aug. 8, pp. 103, 104; No. 7, Aug. 15, 

 pp. 123, 124; No. 8, Aug. 22, pp. 144, 145. Also separate, under the same 

 title, i6mo., pp, 32. 



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