360 Recent Literature. [j^^ 



gets its living in much the same way as the American Crow. The simi- 

 larity is further evident in a marked preference for scarabseid and carabid 

 beetles. A most remarkable difference in food habits is the almost total 

 absence of orthoptera from the diet of the Rook. Neither grasshoppers 

 nor crickets are mentioned in this paper nor in the two reports mentioned 

 below, while these insects compose a large proportion of the food of the 

 American Crow and are a great favorite with most ground feeding birds 

 of the Ignited States. 



The author concludes that " so far as the evidence of this inquiry shows, 

 the rook is not a particularly beneficial bird to the agriculturist, although 

 its usefulness might be considerably increased were it fewer in numbers." 

 This opinion agrees with that of John Gilmour ^ on the Rooks of Fifeshire, 

 which was based on an examination of 355 gizzards. In view of the same 

 conclusion being reached in two extensive investigations, one local, the 

 other general, there is little doubt that it accurately sets forth the economic 

 status of the Rook in Great Britain. 



A more favorable opinion of the Rook is held in Germany, HoUrun * 

 stating that the harm done by the birds in April, May and June is con- 

 siderably outweighed by useful services. The proportion of animal matter 

 in the 131 stomachs collected in these months was 66 percent., almost 2J 

 times the percentage found in English Rooks during the same period. — 

 W. L. M. 



Finn's 'The Waterfowl of India and Asia.'— This is a revised edition,^ 

 under a new name, of "How to Know the Indian Ducks," amplified by the 

 inclusion of all the Asiatic species of the family. Forty-two species, includ- 

 ing stragglers, are recorded from India alone, and the heads of half of this 

 number are illustrated by good figures. 



The biographies are full and interesting and much attention is given 

 to the differences between the closely related species and also to the 

 characters of the liigher groups. As a further aid in identification two 

 synoptical tables are added. The lack of an alphabetical index will be a 

 source of inconvenience to the users of this otherwise handy little work. — 

 W. De W. M. 



Publications Received. — Allen, Francis H. Notes on New England 

 Ornithology, by Henry D. Thoreau, arranged and edited by Francis H. 

 Allen. 12mo, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York, May, 1910. 

 $1.75 net. 



1 Trans. Highland and Agr. Soc. of Scotland, 5th ser., Vol. VIII, pp. 21-113, 1896. 



* 7ter Jahresbericht Versuchsstation f. Pflanzenschutz zu Halle, pp. 5-26, 1895. 



3 The Water Fowl | of i India and Asia | By | Frank Finn, B. A. (Oxon), F. Z. S., 

 M. B. O. U., I Late Deputy Superintendent of the Indian Museum, | Author of | 

 "Garden and Aviary Birds of India, " | . . . . 4 lines of titles of author's previous worksl 

 — I Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co. | — | 1909 — 12mo, pp. ix + 121, and 11 lialf- 

 tone plates of heads. Price, Rs. 2-8. 



