BOOKS AND LITEEATURE 



The Conservation of the Wild Life of Canada. By Dr. C. Gordon 

 Hewitt, late Dominion Entomologist and Consulting Zoologist. 

 New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 344 pp., illustrated. 

 This book was in manuscript before the untimely death of 

 Doctor Hewitt, February, 1920, and has been prepared for 

 publication by his wife. Mrs. Hewitt has also written a beautiful 

 preface which can perhaps be fully appreciated only by those 

 who had the rare good fortune to count Hewitt as a personal 

 friend. 



To get the proper perspective on this book, one should know 

 that Doctor Hewitt was a zoologist of broad training. Previous 

 to coming to Canada he had worked not only on insects but also 

 on several problems on birds and their control of insect pests. 

 The record of his work as Dominion Entomologist from 1909 

 until his death is a brilliant one. Throughout this period he was 

 frequently consulted regarding various zoological problems which 

 came before the Advisory Board on Wild Life Protection and in 

 1916 he was appointed Dominion Consulting Zoologist which 

 broadened his official interest. The work recorded in the book 

 under discussion was done chiefly during the last four years of 

 his life. For so busy a man to undertake a task of this size and to 

 cover the field so well in so short a time is an enviable accomplish- 



The reading of this book is like a trip to the North Woods, but 

 with a scientist as companion rather than a record-breaking 

 hunter of big game. Although the title might properly include 

 fur-bearing animals and other natural groups, the discussion is 

 chiefly limited to the larger wild mammals and birds of Canada. 

 The information regarding the present distribution and abun- 

 dance of the several species is accumulated from many sources 

 and constitutes a valuable inventory of the remaining but di- 

 minishing resources of the Dominion, As might be expected of 

 one who understands the dangers of promiscuous and ignorant 

 hunting and who appreciates wild life, the dangers and economic 

 loss of unrestricted shooting are constantly set forth, and the re- 

 sults of inadequately controlled slaughter in the United States 

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