42



Notices of New Books , etc.



supplied by American breeders. The pamphlet contains a very

good coloured plate of a Black-headed Gouldiaii Finch, which

the author calls a “ Lady Gould Finch.”



OWLS OF THE NEARCTIC REGIONS.


The Eleventh Annual Report of the New York Zoological

Society contains a very interesting paper on Owls by Mr. Beebe.

It is divided into two parts, the first giving an account of Owls

in general, in which the author deals exhaustively with their

habits, structure, and so forth ; the second being a special

account of the Owls of the Nearctic region, most of the

American species being figured from photographs.


“ Only in the last few years,” the author remarks, “ when

our grain crops reach from ocean to ocean, and the devastation

of hordes of mice have touched one of the deepest chords of man’s

nature—his purse—is the Owl getting due credit for his value and

economic importance. If every Owl on our Continent was

suddenly swept out of existence, it is doubtful if, after a few years,

a single crop of grain could be raised successfully. It would take

the mice and other rodents and many injurious insects little time

to confine all their ravages to the hours of darkness. Hawks

would in such an event become almost useless to man, and though

weasels and minks might increase prodigiousl}^, yet without the

deadly sweep of the Owl, the mice would soon overrun the laud.”


Dealing with Owls in captivity an interesting point is

mentioned regarding the Snowy Owl; special arrangements, we

are told, must be made for the birds during the moult, in a hot

climate, “they will not moult well or live long if compelled to

endure the heat of our southern summer, but if confined to a

large flying cage in a cool, dark cellar, every feather will be

moulted in as perfect condition as if they had spent the preceding

months in their native tundras of the Arctic zone.”



