Vol i907" IV ] Recent Literature. 235 



to Man; II. The Utility of Birds in Woodlands; III. Birds as Destroyers 

 of Hairy Caterpillars and Plant Lice; IV. The Economic Service of Birds 

 in the Orchard; V. Song Birds of Orchard and Woodland; VI. Songless 

 Birds of Orchard and Woodland; VII. The Utility of Birds in Field and 

 Garden; VIII. Birds of Field and Garden; IX. Birds of the Air; X. 

 Birds of Marsh and Waterside; XI. Checks upon the Increase of Useful 

 Birds; XII. The Protection of Birds. 



Chapters I to IV treat of the loss due to insect ravages; the increase 

 and multiplicity of these pests, and their destruction by birds; their in- 

 crease with the decrease of birds, the utility of birds in the protection of 

 forests, and their "aesthetic, sentimental, and educational value." Chap- 

 ters V to X take up the various useful birds specifically, giving a short 

 description of each as a means for their identification, and setting forth 

 the role each plays in the scheme of nature. In Chapter XI are detailed 

 the various checks upon the increase of birds, including their natural 

 enemies and their destruction by man and the bird enemies introduced by 

 him, as the domestic cat and the House Sparrow. Chapter XII, on the 

 protection of birds, gives instruction as to methods of attracting birds 

 to take up their abodes in cultivated grounds and about our houses, for 

 supplying them with food and nesting facilities, and how to protect crops 

 from such otherwise useful birds as sometimes levy toll on our fruit or 

 grain. There is also something about the artificial propagation of game 

 birds, about the associations organized for the protection of birds, with 

 the names and addresses of their principal officers, and also a bibliography 

 of papers on ornithology published by the Massachusetts State Board of 

 Agriculture from 1861 to date. The text illustrations relate mainly to 

 insect pests (many of which are figured), to their ravages, and to particular 

 species of birds which prey upon destructive insects. The frontispiece 

 is a colored plate, by Fuertes, of the Wood Duck — a species rapidly 

 approaching extinction; the half-tone plates, largely from photographs, 

 illustrate the destructiveness of insects to forests, insect-feeding birds, 

 bird houses and nesting boxes, and other pertinent subjects. Many of 

 these are from published sources, duly acknowledged, but a large number 

 appear here for the first time. 



Besides the author's many years of personal field experience in connec- 

 tion with the Gypsy Moth Commission, and in other relations, he has 

 drawn material from the best published sources, as the reports of investi- 

 gations under the U. S. Department of Agriculture, in relation both to 

 the destructive work of insects upon crops and forests and the utility of 

 birds as insect destroyers, and has utilized the hitherto unpublished 

 reports of two of his field assistants, thus rendering the work an important 

 contribution of new matter to the subject treated. It remains to add 

 that the State Board of Agriculture and the State Legislature of Massa- 

 chusetts have shown commendable foresight and liberality in authorizing 

 the publication and distribution of an edition of 5000 copies of this valuable 

 exposition of the relation of birds to man's economic interests. — J. A. A. 



