1922.] Recently published Ornithological Works. 197 



Gladstone on the Value of Birds. 



[The Value of Dii-ds. By Hugh S. Gladstone. Pp. 1-30. Dumfries 

 (Staudiird Oflice), 19^1. 8vo.] " 



Mr. Huf^li Gladstone has here reprinted an address which 

 he read Ijefore the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural 

 History and Antiquarian Society on ]5 October, 1920. 

 After an introduction dealing with the various ways in 

 which bird.s may be of economic value to man — as 

 messengers, as food, and as adornment, — he discusses 

 their extrinsic value as regards the food they themselves 

 consume. He treats at considerable length of the jjreat 

 difficulty in the case of many species of striking a value 

 between the harm that they do and the benefits they confer 

 on the gardener and agriculturist, and the great danger 

 of drawing conclusions from isolated observations. Because 

 a Long-eared Owl has once been observed taking a young 

 Pheasant from the rearing-field there is no reason to 

 condemn all Long-eared Owls, nor because a NYagtail has 

 been noticed taking young Trout from a hatchery in Bute 

 in December are we to ban all Wagtails. Only by 

 laborious and continuous investigation of the stomacli- 

 contents of a species throughout the year and throughout 

 different parts of the country, can a just appreciation of its 

 economic status be acquired. 



Mr. Gladstone pleads for the institution of an Ornitho- 

 logical Bureau under the ^linistry of Agriculture to deal 

 with this matter continuously and constantly. 



The greater part of the address is devoted to a review of 

 the present economic status of all our commoner British 

 Birds, arranged in systematic order compiled from the best 

 and latest investigations, and this is followed by a useful 

 bibliography of the recent literature dealing with tiie 

 subject. 



