630 



Rooks and Crows in Germany. 



[JAN., 



time some forty local stations are affiliated with the central 

 society. A book entitled " The Protection of Crops against 

 Diseases and Insects" was issued free to members of the society 

 in 1892, and 22,000 copies have been distributed. 



The work, having somewhat outgrown the resources of the 

 society, has now been taken over by the Biological Department 

 of the Imperial Board of Public Health, and considerable exten- 

 sion is contemplated. The various States of the Empire have 

 been approached by the Imperial Home Office with a view to 

 securing the support of their research stations, and cordial 

 co-operation has been promised. A central institute, fully 

 staffed and equipped, will be established in each State, Province, 

 or group of Provinces, and each central institute will have sub- 

 sidiary institutes or stations affiliated with it. The latter will 

 consist largely of local colleges, agricultural schools, experi- 

 mental stations, and the like. Finally, each of these subsidiary 

 stations will be associated with local collectors, chiefly farmers, 

 gardeners, and foresters, of whom it is proposed to appoint 

 about 1,000 for the Empire. The information supplied by the 

 collectors will, in the first instance, be transmitted to the sub- 

 sidiary institutes, from which it will be passed on to the central 

 institutes, to be finally issued in an annual report to the Board 

 of Public Health. 



Applications for advice will for the most part be dealt with 

 by the subsidiary institutes, only the more difficult problems 

 being investigated by the central institutes. 



{Mitt. Dent. Land. Gesell., Part 46, 1904.] 



The results of an investigation into the food of rooks and 



crows which was carried out in the years 1897-8 by Dr. Schleh, 



_ ... of Miinster, have recently been published by 

 Enquiry into ' , ~ • 



Food of Rooks tne German Agricultural Society as a con- 



and Crows in tinuation of previous reports on the same 



Germany.* , . , T n 0 



■ subject. In all, some 481 separate examin- 



ations were made, though only 474 are included in the report. 

 The species examined included Corvus frugilegus (rook), Corvus 

 corone (carrion crow), Corvus comix (hooded crow), and Corvus 

 monedula (jackdaw), and the birds varied in age from two- 



* [Arbeiten der Deutschen Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft. Part 91. 1904.] 



