Publications of Interest to Agriculturists. 
385 
The second class is found to contain the greater number of 
species, and, what is more important, most of the best known and 
most commonly occurring species are included in it. 
Only six species fall into the category of the positively harmful 
birds. Three of these are so rare that their depredations may be 
neglected ; one exercises its rapacity on fish, and two alone are to 
be regarded as absolute foes to the farmer. Neither of these, we 
may remark, are English birds. 
Dr. Fisher pathetically laments the impossibility of any clear 
division of rapacious birds into two groups, the beneficial and the 
injurious. Such a division, besides possessing the charm of sim- 
plicity, would afford the practical agriculturist a clear and unequivocal 
guide to action on the appearance of any bird. 
So simple a classification, however, is obviously quite out of the 
question. Not only may the same bird both benefit and injure us 
by its general habits, feeding, perhaps, impartially on mice and 
poultry, but there are cases, like that of the rook, where a bird is a 
serious nuisance for a brief period, and a valuable ally during the 
remainder of the year. Clearly the only method by which a true 
conclusion can be arrived at is an accurate determination of the 
habits and a careful weighing of the pros and cons in the case of 
each species, and it is the masterly application of this method which 
entitles the publication under notice to rank as a valuable contribu- 
tion to American agricultural science. 
We say advisedly American agricultural science. Beyond the 
general conclusion that all the owls and most of the hawks are 
friends and not foes, this book, though highly interesting, possesses 
little practical value for the English farmer on account of the fact 
that most of the species dealt with are unknown in this country. 
Only six of the birds under notice are to be recognised as true 
British species, and of these the owls alone possess any economic 
importance. In the United States, as in England, the barn owl 
and the long- and short-eared owls are found to feed almost exclu- 
sively on injurious rodents, such as mice and voles. Indeed no good 
reason is given for denying them a place in the first class of entirely 
beneficial rapacious birds. 
The two members of the hawk tribe which possess the greatest 
interest for the British farmer are not included in the American 
list. These are, of course, the sparrow-hawk and the kestrel. The 
former, though it preys to some extent upon mice and insects, 
commits serious havoc among game and poultry, and there is little 
doubt that the harm it does in this direction considerably exceeds 
the benefits it otherwise confers, and the farmer is justified in 
regarding it as an enemy. 
With the kestrfel the reverse is the case. It will certainly take 
game, but only when exceedingly young and helpless, while, 
throughout the remainder of the year, the benefit it confers by the 
wholesale destruction of mice and beetles is incalculable. English 
wild birds in their relation to agriculture have, however, been 
already treated in this Journal, and we may refer those interested 
