100 Recent Literature. [^^ 



' Table of Species and Subspecies,' which shows by means of symbols their 

 distribution in the islands, and whether the record is based on specimens in 

 the Field Museum, on previously published records, or specimens observed 

 in life but not taken. The combined list numbers 161 species and sub- 

 species, nearly all of which are represented by specimens in the Field 

 Museum, collected in the spring of 1908 by Mr. John F. Ferry and Dr. Ned 

 Dearborn, and in the early part of the year 1909 by Mr. Ferry. One species 

 and three subspecies are described as new; the collectors' field notes are 

 given, and in many cases extended technical annotations. The paper is 

 thus a valuable summary of present knowledge of the ornithology of the 

 Leeward Islands. — J. A. A. 



Fisher on the Economic Value of Predaceous Birds and Mammals. — 



An eight-page paper ^ by Dr. A. K. Fisher states briefly the economic 

 relations of the principal predaceous mammals and birds of North America 

 to agriculture. The house cat is arraigned as the "sleek highwayman" 

 that "destroys in the aggregate more wild birds and young poultry than 

 all the native natural enemies combined," adding that a well-known natura- 

 list estimates "that in the New England States alone 1,500,000 birds are 

 destroyed annually by cats." 



A good word is said in behalf of the much maligned hawks and owls, 

 with the exception of two of the former and one of the latter, whose por- 

 traits in color, by Fuertes, are pilloried in the three plates that illustrate 

 the paper, in order that they may be the better recognized and distinguished 

 from the beneficial species that for the most part compose these two groups 

 of useful birds. These species are the Sharp-shinned Hawk, the Cooper's 

 Hawk, and the Great Horned Owl. Other birds of usually unsuspected 

 beneficial traits are the Great Blue Heron and the Bittern, which prey upon 

 injurious rodents; certain gulls and terns also gorge themselves on grass- 

 hoppers and crickets, while some of them feed extensively on field mice 

 and other small rodents. Crows and Jays, while effective destroyers of 

 pests, are seriously destructive of the eggs and nestlings of viseful wild birds. 



The educational information here presented will be widely distributed 

 among agriculturists, and should be effective in placing the matter in a 

 proper light before those most interested in the suppression of farm pests. — 

 J. A. A. 



Beebe on the Breeding of Canada Geese in Captivity. — Apropos of 

 industries connected with semi-wild birds, Mr. Beebe, in a recent number 

 of the ' Zoological Society Bulletin,' published by the New York Zoological 

 Society, gives an account of the rearing of Canada Wild Geese on Chinco- 



1 The Economic Value of Predaceous Birds and Mammals. By Dr. A. K. Fisher, 

 in Charge of Economic Investigations, Biological Survey. Yearbook of Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture for 1908 (1909), pp. 187-194, pll. i-iii (colored). Also separate. 



