^'°^i9lf^^] Recent Literature. 413 



Economic Publications of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. — 



Several important papers have been published recently by the staff of the 

 Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture, relating to economic 

 ornithology. One by Ned Dearborn deals with the English Sparrow. ^ 

 Continued investigation has only emphasized the fact that these birds are 

 everywhere a nuisance, — noisy, filthy and destructive, and the little good 

 they do in destroying some noxious insects is far overbalanced by the 

 damage they inflict. This bulletin deals mainly with the best methods 

 for their destruction and recommends the continual breaking up of their 

 nests and the trapping of the old birds, as the most efficacious means for 

 lessening their numbers. Several styles of traps are figured and described 

 in detail. 



A bulletin on the economic status of nineteen common Game, Aquatic 

 and Rapacious birds is the joint work of W. L. McAfee and F. E. L. Beal,^ 

 though the former author is responsible for the bulk of the sketches. As in 

 other similar publications the distribution and general habits of the several 

 species are briefly considered, while the results of the study of stomach 

 contents are given in considerable detail. Several birds are here treated 

 which have not been included in previous pubUcations of the Department. 



Mr. W. L. McAfee has another paper in the Yearbook of the Department 

 of Agriculture dealing with the ' Bird Enemies of the Codling Moth.'^ He 

 finds that birds are the most effectual natural enemies of this pest and * in 

 some locahties they destroy from 66 to 85 per cent of the hibernating 

 larva?.' The most useful species are the Downy Woodpecker, Black-headed 

 Grosbeak, Bullock's Oriole and Bush-Tit.— W. S. 



The Food of Birds in India.^— Under this title Mr. C. W. Mason 

 brings together most of the recorded knov/ledge upon the food of Indian 

 birds, and presents also field observations of his own, as well as the results 

 of the examinations of 1325 stomachs. The work is edited by the Imperial 

 Entomologist, H. Maxwell-Lefroy, who adds a section summarizing the 

 value of birds to agriculture. Mr. Mason has done a very useful thing in 

 collecting the notes on bird food from the 3 most important Indian scientific 

 journals, and from 10 standard reference works on the avifauna of India. 

 It greatly lightens the task of future students of economic ornithology 

 in India. Moreover the generous leaven of new material gives point and 

 vitality to the whole paper. 



" From the economic point of view," says Mason, " the scientific identi- 



1 The English Sparrow as a Pest. By Ned Dearborn. U. S. Department of 

 AgricuUure, Farmers' Bulletin, 493, 1912, pp. 1-24, flgs. 1-17. 



- Some Common Game, Aquatic, and Rapacious Birds In Relation to Man. By 

 W. L. McAtee and F. E. L. Beal. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farmer's 

 Bulletin, 497, 1912, pp. 1-30, figs. 1-14. 



3 Bird Enemies of the Codling Moth. By W. L. McAtee. Yearbook U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture for 1911 (1912), pp. 237-246. (Also separate.) 



< Mem. Dept. Agr. India. Ent. Ser. Vol. Ill, Jan., 1912, 371 pp. 



