514 



NATURE 



[June 24, 1920 



consuming- population of the world during the last 

 fifty years. This increase amounts apparently to 

 more than 90 per cent., and some further allowance 

 should also, in the author's opinion, be made for 

 the rise in the standard of living- not only in 

 Europe, but also in Asiatic and tropical countries. 

 One of the chief causes for this increase appears 

 to be the less frequent occurrence of devastating- 

 wars as compared with earlier times. Also the 

 opening up of vast new regions of agricultural 

 productiveness encouraged the growth of the meat- 

 consuming population outside Europe, while the 

 development of cheap transport, enabling the sur- 

 plus foodstuffs and feedstuffs of these new coun- 

 tries to be carried to other regions where local 

 supplies were deficient, had a great effect in mak- 

 ing possible the increase of the industrial popula- 

 tions in Europe. From a study of the production 

 and consumption of animal foodstuffs it becomes 

 clear that the supply of these is likely to 

 be considerably less than the demand. The author 

 states that this is due to three causes : Owing to 

 the comparative lack of undeveloped fertile 

 regions, the rate of expansion in the surplus pro- 

 duction of pasture-fed meat animals and of con- 

 centrated feedstuffs from the new overseas 

 countries is slowing down ; the white meat- 

 consuming population has increased ; with the 

 general improvements in the financial status of 

 industrial and agricultural workers in Europe, 

 their per capita consumption of animal foodstuffs 

 tends to rise. 



Part iii. of the book is concerned with the above 

 problems as they affect the British Empire. The 

 study of the Empire's deficiencies, both in animal 

 foodstuffs and feedstuffs, points throughout to its 

 lack of widespread intensive systems of agricul- 

 ture, for, though land resources are abundant, 

 they remain more or less undeveloped in large 

 areas. The author emphasises the fact that 

 throughout those parts of the Empire inhabited 

 by white people only a relatively small proportion 

 are engaged in agriculture, and they work on the 

 extensive instead of the intensive system. His 

 conclusion is : — 



" The Empire, as a whole, requires to 

 have an enormously increased area under 

 cultivation for the production of feedstuffs, 

 not only to make good its deficiency in this direc- 

 tion, but also to provide for the maintenance of 

 food-producing animals and of poultry in much 

 larger numbers than at present, if it is to cover in 

 a more satisfactory way its deficiency in meat, 

 dairy produce, arid eggs." 



A valuable feature of the book lies in the 

 summaries which occur at the end of nearly 

 NO. 2643, VOL. 105] 



every chapter in Part iii., while for Parts i. 

 and ii. the author gives a full summary of 

 the conclusions to be drawn from the general 

 study of the question of food production and 

 consumption. 



Life and Lore of Birds. 



The Heron of Castle Creek and Other Sketches 

 of Bird Life. By A. W. Rees. With a memoir 

 of the author by J. K. Hudson. Pp. xi-i-218. 

 (London : John Murray, 1920.) Price 7s. 6d. net. 



A MELANCHOLY interest is attached to this 

 volume, inasmuch as its gifted author 

 selected the articles, which had previously ap- 

 peared in various serial publications, for re-issue 

 in book form, but did not live to complete their 

 final revision for the press. This task was under- 

 taken by his literary executor and successfully 

 carried through with so satisfactory a result that 

 we are glad to know that sufficient of Mr. Rees's 

 writings still remain to form another of these' 

 delightful volumes. 



Most of the essays in the series now before us 

 are devoted to bird-life, the various phases of 

 which are graphically described from the personal 

 observations of the author, who did not trust to 

 books for his knowledge, but gleaned his informa- 

 tion at first hand from the creatures he loved. 

 The engaging style of writing and the accuracy 

 of the author's notes on the lives and loves of the 

 birds and beasts he watched disarm criticism and 

 form engrossing reading. It is difficult to single 

 out any particular essay as of outstanding in- 

 terest, but the account of the parent kingfishers 

 teaching their brood to dive for minnows ts 

 original, amusing, and instructive, while the 

 observations on the dipper, the efforts of the 

 author to find its nest, and the affection shown 

 by these birds for their mates, entirely captivate 

 the reader. When a cock offered his tribute of a 

 large worm to his lady-love, the author felt, as 

 he watched its antics, that he "could recognise 

 a sentiment subtly different from mere animal 

 passion," and goes on to say : — 



" In those rare brief periods of outdoor study 

 when, to my surprise and delight, I have caught 

 a glimpse of what, for want of a better phrase, 

 might be termed the humanity of Nature, I have 

 not merely imagined, but have felt sure, that 

 many of the finest feelings of man — pity, sym- 

 pathy, devotion, unselfish comradeship— are 

 shared in no small measure by creatures con- 

 sidered to be far beneath our plane of life." 



Five essays are given on the life of the part- 

 ridge at various periods of the year, and these 



