142 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



from Vancouver Island ; while between the two^ in the 

 humid coast-regions of central California, occurs the already 

 described G. g. californicum, and in the E/Ocky Mountain 

 region of Colorado and New Mexico G. g. pinicola. The 

 alternation of dry and desert tracts with those of intense 

 humidity on the Pacific coast doubtless accounts for the 

 great variation of many of the resident species. 



Gurney on the Gannet. 



[The Gannet. A Bird with a History. By J. H. Gurney, F.Z.S., 

 M.B.O.U. Pp. lii-t-567; 25 pis., 1 map. London (Witlierby), 1913. 

 8to. Price 27s. 6^^.] 



In the pages of this delightful volume Mr. Gurney has 

 accomplished a most difficult task with signal success. He 

 set out to make himself the historian of the Gannet, and 

 little that is worth recording seems to have escaped him. 



In successive chapters he discusses the name of the 

 Gannet^ the several islands which it now inhabits^ or has 

 inhabited, its domestic economy, plumage, and anatomy. 

 Flight, mortality, and modes of feeding afford material for 

 other chapters crowded with interesting facts gleaned by 

 laborious research and personal observation. It may be 

 said of this book, indeed, that it furnishes the most 

 exhaustive account of the Gannet which has yet appeared. 

 Only in one particular can it be improved upon, and this 

 concerns the history of the '^ courtship ^' period, of which 

 practically nothing is said. 



We should be glad to see Mr. Gurney's book circulated 

 among the members of fishery boards, and especially those 

 who imagine they are rendering a service to the community 

 in advocating the slaughter of the Gannet and Cormorant 

 on account of the toll of fish that they take. Their 

 mistaken efforts are begotten of ignorance. Incredible as 

 is the amount of fish eaten by these, and other piscivorous 

 species, their depredations must be regarded as a negligible 

 quantity. Having regard to the prodigious prolificness 

 which fishes [display, the process of thinning out, which 



