NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 471 
worthy of all consideration by evolutionists: —‘‘ Under the in- 
fluence of the theory of natural selection the view has been 
accepted by many zoologists and psychologists that everything 
which an animal does is for its best interest. The exact doctrine 
of heredity, founded by Mendel and advanced to the position of a 
systematic science in 1900, reduces this idea to its proper value. 
It is only true that species possessing tropisms which would 
make reproduction and preservation of the species impossible 
must die out.” 
The Home-life of the Terns or Sea Swallows. Photographed and 
described by W. Bickerton, F.Z.S., M.B.0.U. Witherby & Co. 
In this publication Mr. Bickerton has described, with a number 
of beautiful illustrations, the home-life of the five species of 
Terns which visit the British Isles every summer for their nest- 
ing season, and his work again accentuates that modern aspect 
of ornithological study based on patient and careful watching of 
the living birds with the use of the camera. In this way a new 
literature is accumulating which describes the domestic economy 
of birds, while photographs of the living creatures in the most 
interesting episodes of their existence supplement the knowledge 
derived from the drawers of skins or mounted specimens in cases. 
This practice also assists in the preservation of many of our 
rarest species; the gun is replaced by the camera, and in these 
islands at least the time is approaching when the special collector 
of killed birds will be regarded somewhat in the light of an 
ornithological vandal. We are not, of course, alluding to the 
necessary collection of skins in other areas, nor even to an un- 
conditional rule in Britain, but the collector with the gun should 
be controlled, not only by legislation, but, what is more, by 
public opinion. We, however, write under a full conviction of 
our own personal sin in the matter. At p. 33 of this volume 
statistics show what Lord Muneaster has achieved in the pre- 
servation of Terns at the Ravenglass Gullery. The wholesale 
ege-collector is also found deservedly arraigned in these pages. 
For those who require an intimate knowledge of the home- 
life of these birds this little book can be heartily recommended, 
especially as regards the Roseate Tern, of whose habits so little 
