112 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xni. 



helping to establish a less local form of memorial. Dame 

 Alice Godman and her two daughters have offered to establish 

 a Trust with the sum of £5,000, the proceeds of which are 

 to be devoted to making collections for the advancement of 

 science and for the benefit of the Museum, a project which 

 has met with the warm approval of the Trustees of the British 

 Museum. The Committee propose that any amount received 

 by them over and above that required for the bronze tablet 

 shall be added to this Exploration Fund. Contributions to 

 the Memorial should be sent to Mr. C. E. Fagan at the Natural 

 History Museum, Cromwell Road, S.W.7. 



REVIEW. 



S^ 



Birds and the War. By Hugh S. Gladstone, M.A., F.R.S 



Skeffington, 5s. net, illustrated. 

 This is a well-arranged little book divided into the following 

 sections : I. Utility and economy of birds in the war, con- 

 taining a very interesting chapter on the use of Carrier Pigeons, 

 a chapter on economic ornithology, and others on birds and 

 birds' eggs as food ; IL Sufferings of birds in the war, dealing 

 with birds in captivity, destruction of birds at sea, and the 

 effect of air raids ; HI. Behaviour of birds in the war zone ; 

 IV. Effect of the war on birds ; and a concluding chapter on 

 the ornithologists killed, but in this only the British are taken 

 into account. As Mr. Gladstone foresees, much careful 

 observation and study will be required in the next few years 

 before we shall know with any exactness what effect the war 

 has had upon birds, not only in the actual fighting zones but 

 also in other parts, such as the British Islands, where changed 

 conditions of farming, forestry, game-keeping, and so on, must 

 all have an effect. 



Meanwhile, Mr. Gladstone has written an interesting book 

 of a popular nature and he has made it a readable one, which 

 could not have been an easy task, as cuttings from newspapers 

 and journals of all kinds have been used in its compilation. 

 The source of the information is given in each case, but it is 

 not always clear where the author is merely quoting and 

 where he is expressing his own opinion, and the observations 

 are often not reliable. It may be remarked that in 1918, 

 when the collecting of eggs of Black-headed Gulls was under 

 expert supervision, nearly 100,000 were gathered, so that this 

 source provided a real food-supply and not merely a luxury, 

 as Mr. Gladstone supposes. H.F.W. 



