Reviews and Book Notices. 143 
How Sealskins are Obtained, by J. Collinson (Animals’ Friend Society 
York House, Portugal Street, W.C., 8 pp., 2d.). draws attention to the 
¢cruelties practised in securing seal-skins for the adornment of our ladies. 
It is anything but pleasant reading. 
Darwinism and Human Life, by Prof. J. Arthur Thomson. London: 
Andrew Melrose, 245 pp., 5/- net. 
In 1909 Prof. Thomson gave the ‘South African Lectures’ to the 
South African Association for the Advancement of Science ; and, appro- 
priately, the subject chosen was Darwinism. The subject was dealt with 
under the heads, ‘What We Owe to Darwin’; ‘The Web of Life’ 
“ The Struggle for Existence’ ; ‘ The Raw Materials of Progress’; ‘ Facts 
of Inheritance’; and ‘Selection: Organic and Social.’ All naturalists 
will be familiar with Prof. Thomson’s charming style, hence the present 
work is one that can be heartily recommended, and it will unquestionably 
take a permanent place amongst the extraordinary amount of literature 
on this subject that has appeared during tne past two years. 
Report on the Immigrations of Summer Residents in the Spring of 1909, 
edited by Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, being Vol. XXVI., Bull. B.O.C., 347 
pp. and 25 maps. London, Witherby & Co., 6/- net. 
This Annual Report of the B.O.C. Migration Committee continues to 
grow very considerably each year. The Chronological Summary of the 
arrival and dispersal of the various species of the Spring immigratory 
birds is continued on the original lines, any alteration or improvement 
in the system at first adopted being strenuously avoided by the Committee, 
evidently in order ‘to afford facilities in comparing the results of one 
year with another.’ This we consider to be a mistake (vide ‘ The Natura- 
list,’ 1906, pp. 164-166, and 1909, p. 31). 
Fortunately in other directions the Committee has been much more 
enterprising. There are Weather Reports from the weekly returns of 
the Meteorological Office ; Daily Details of the Weather Conditions with 
the Corresponding Arrivals of the Summer-Residents; Details of the 
chief Movements observed at the Lighthouses and Light-vessels in the 
Spring; and full notes on the Autumn migratory movements, both at 
the Light-stations and inland. A useful map, giving the positions 
of the ninety light-stations included in the Report, is added for the first 
time. We are glad to see that in these additional reports and records the 
precise locality is usually given, instead of such vague terms as ‘ York- 
shire,’ ‘ Lincolnshire,’ etc., as in the systemised ‘ Chronological Summary ’ 
of Spring arrivals. 
Comparative notes are added from Scotland, and also from the Isle 
of Texel (Holland), where one member of the Committee went in order to 
report observations of passing migrants. Such a huge mass of reports 
is being accumulated that we confess we are beginning to look forward 
to the promised ‘ Digest’ of the whole. 
Owing to the yearly increasing work of tabulation alee additional 
‘members. have been added to the Committee, and Dr. F. Ticehurst 
has undertaken the secretaryship, hitherto held by Mr. 7 L. Bonhote. 
The records from the Light-stations are amazingly numerous, and it 
*makes one wonder at the number of embryo ornithologists there must 
be amongst the Light- keepers, more especially when critical species are 
“seen’ in ‘cloudy weather.’ But where wings of the birds killed 
at the lights are forwarded to the Committee (as is frequently the case), 
identification is more satisfactory. Amongst this multitude of ‘ facts’ 
there are some which are open to question : for instance, the first arrivals 
in the autumn of both the Fieldfare and the Redwing are from the extreme 
south of England! But taken altogether this Committee is doing splendid 
work, and no student of Bird migration can possibly be without these 
publications.—H. B. B. 
Igi1 Mar. 1. 
