Revieios.



97



if healthful pastime ; but I should not pretend to question the right

of those who think differently to indulge in it, because (after all is

said) we have the highest authority for claiming that man’s welfare

is of more importance than that of a beast. I do not excuse pigeon¬

shooting from traps : if a man desires to show his skill, shooting at

glass balls thrown in the air would answer the purpose equally well.


A bird in a cage does not spend its existence in vain regrets

over its lost liberty : in all probability its mind is a complete blank

as regards the past. It lives in the present and is content so long as

it is kindly treated and has plenty of food suited to its needs.


If the well-meaning persons who write pamphlets of this

character would confine themselves to condemnation of those prac¬

tices which all aviculturists condemn, such as the barbaric adorn¬

ments worn by thoughtless women and involving the death of

thousands of innocent and beautiful creatures, or the wholesale

slaughter of useful birds by ignorant persons, they would be doing

good work. As it is they are hindering the advancement of science.


A. G. B.



THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST. Nos. 10 & 11.


In these numbers Mr. A. Landsborough Thomson continues

his Report upon the Aberdeen University Bird-migration inquiry,

Mr. Robert Somerville publishes a short article on the occurrence of

the little Owl in Fife, Mr. Percy H. Grimshaw gives a useful account

of the food of the Common Pheasant. Among the short notes

William Evans records the breeding of the Tree-Sparrow in Midlo¬

thian and the appearance of Sabine’s Gull in the Firth of Forth,

D. Mackensie records the shooting of a Black-tailed Godwit in the

Outer Hebrides and A. D. Carmichael the breeding of Fulmars at

Reawdck, Shetland ; Hugh Mackay notes the occurrence of the Green

Sandpiper at Skinburness where it was secured on August 30th, and

G. D. Ferguson publishes Notes on the Fulmar Petrel as observed by

him in Orkney and Shetland in July, August and September.


A. G. B.



