1911 J Recent Literature. 281 



to insect pests and the fruit industry, are among the numerous subjects 

 treated in the Report, but perhaps of even greater importance are the 

 investigation of ground squirrels and wood rats in their relation to the 

 dissemination of the spotted fever and the bubonic plague, and of means 

 to reduce their number, and, where necessary, to effect their extermination. 

 The scope and efficiency of the work of the Survey is thus extended year by 

 year to meet new emergencies and conditions; its work along economic lines 

 is thus of the highest importance to the general welfare, in addition to its 

 biologic phases. — J. A. A. 



Jacobs on the Purple Martin and Houses for its Summer Home. — 

 Mr. J. Warren Jacobs contributes further welcome information 1 regarding 

 his success in supplying houses for the summer homes ot the Purple Martin. 

 This brochure of 38 pages contains a list of persons who have put up his 

 martin houses, with many : ports from correspondents concerning the 

 success that has attended then use. These reports are followed by several 

 pages "On Snakes as Bird Destroyers, and their Power to 'Charm.'" 

 From the statements here made it is evident that snakes are quite destruc- 

 tive to not only the eggs and young of birds that nest on the ground, but 

 also to those nesting in bushes and trees, and that even Martins nesting 

 in bird houses are not wholly exempt from their attacks. — J. A. A. 



'How to Attract and Protect Wild Birds.' — This second English 

 edition of Hiesemann's well known work 2 presents many new features and 

 shows that there is a large demand ) r the English version of this very use- 

 ful and excellent manual of how to at -act and how to promote the increase 

 of wild birds, as well as how to prote t them from natural enemies, based 

 on the well-known devices and experiments made during many years of 

 close study of the subject by Baron von Berlepsch on his estate at Seebach, 

 Germany. The legal aspect of bird protection is not treated; protection 

 here means the provision of nesting-places for birds that breed not only in 

 holes in trees and in sheltered niches, but also for those that breed in the 

 open, as in fields and marshes, and in thickets and woods. Protection, 

 in other words, means the preservation, so far as possible, of natural con- 

 ditions and haunts, as well as the erection of artificial nesting-sites. A 

 chapter is devoted to the feeding of birds in winter, and the various methods 

 employed are illustrated as well as described. 



The author refers to the principle of utilitarianism that is now so wide- 

 spread among all classes of society, but has the courage to say: "We do 



1 Second Supplement to Gleanings No. 5. The Purple Martin (Progne subi* 

 subis) and Houses for its Summer Home. By J. Warren Jacobs. Waynesburg, 

 Pa. Issued November 1, 1910. 8vo, pp. 57-94. with halftone illustrations. 



2 How to | Attract and Prot ct | Wild Birds | By | Martin Hiesemann | Trans- 

 lated by | Emma S. Buchheim | With an Introduction bv I Her Grace the Duchess 

 of Bedford ] Second edition with many revisions | With many illustrations 

 London | Witherby & Co. 326 High Holborn | 1911. 8vo. pp. 100, 40 text figures. 

 Is. 6d. net. Can also be ordered of the National Association of Audubon Societies, 

 1974 Broadway, New York City. (Note the change of address.) 



