38 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVIII 
In their own neighborhood Mr. and Mrs. 
Baynes have had wonderful success in mak- 
ing the intimate personal acquaintance of 
many birds. A very full discussion of such 
problems as those concerning methods of 
attracting birds, feeding birds in winter, 
devices which have been found useful, nest 
boxes, and the best shrubs and plants for 
attracting birds, is one of the chief contri- 
butions of the book. 
The much argued questions as to the re- 
lations of the farmer, the sportsman, the 
foreigner, and the scientific collector to the 
preservation of birds are discussed in a re- 
freshingly impersonal way. Mr. Baynes has 
avoided sweeping statements, and it must 
be admitted that his words have a corre- 
spondingly convincing quality. 
Worthy of note is his attitude toward the 
predatory fur-bearing mammals and other 
bird enemies, so often condemned uncondi- 
tionally by bird enthusiasts. Evidence for 
as well as against them is carefully entered, 
and in concluding the chapter treating of 
destruction of birds by natural enemies, he 
says (p. 37): “Yet it is a fact that all the 
storms that sweep the earth and all the nat- 
ural enemies, including savage people, 
would seldom make any lasting impression 
on the normal bird population, if it were not 
for civilized man and his works.” He makes 
clear the fact that the market demand for 
bird plumage or for the flesh of wild birds 
has been of foremost importance as a factor 
in the decrease of many species and the 
extermination of others. 
It is of decided interest that the author, 
although not a collector himself, has not 
allowed his devotion to the birds to blind 
him to the relation of the scientist to con- 
servation. On page 267 he says: “As for 
scientific collectors, the writer believes that 
they should be allowed to go about their 
work unhampered by petty restrictions. 
Compared with other gunners they shoot 
few birds and these are generally made 
good use of. The complaint that scientific 
men do not do their share in the work of 
wild life conservation, is generally unfair. 
It is usually the cry of some conservationist 
who wishes he were scientific but is not, 
who wishes to attract attention to his own 
work by belittling that of others, or who 
does not appreciate the fact that the work 
he himself is doing is based largely on the 
work of the scientist.” 
As a step toward the solution of the cat 
problem, admittedly one of the most diffi- 
cult before bird lovers, a tax of one dollar 
on each male cat and five dollars on each 
female cat is recommended. 
The English Sparrow, or European Spar- 
row as Mr, Baynes calls it, apparently has 
no terrors for the author. The birds have 
been banished completely from his home 
town, Meriden, New Hampshire. Trapping 
is asserted to be the safest method of elim- 
ination, poisoning the most effective. As 
to the possibility of eradicating the English 
Sparrow he says (pp. 245, 246) : “Almost 
any town or city can be cleared of European 
Sparrows and kept clear of them, if just 
a few men of resource and resolution will 
undertake the work. In almost any town 
there are a certain number of men who 
have made a great success in business, and 
I know and they know that if the sparrows 
had stood between any one of them and 
the success he has made, there would not 
be a single sparrow in that town.” 
Mr. Baynes gives ample space and ade- 
quate treatment to the economic argument 
for bird protection, but wisely realizes that 
without feelings and passion as well as 
economics and intellect behind it the move- 
ment for conservation will not get as far as 
it ought to. The following is from his dis- 
cussion of the aesthetic and moral reasons 
for protecting the birds (p. 116) : “No woods 
are dreary if the jays or crows are calling; 
no field but is full of joy if the bobolinks 
are sprinkling it with their song; and he 
is not quite human whose heart does not 
beat faster when at night and far above 
him he hears the cry of the wild gander as 
he leads his flying squadrons northward, 
homeward, through the pathways of the 
skies.” 
The note of Mr. Bayne’s argument, 
throughout, is an optimistic, a constructive 
one. His is not a code of don't' s, but rather a 
compellingly persuasive program of do's. 
Realizing the fundamental importance in 
our complicated civilization of organization 
as an aid to individual effort he places 
much emphasis upon the desirability of the 
formation of bird clubs. 
After reading the book one is not sur- 
prised to learn that a new edition has had 
to be prepared already. — W alter P. Taylor. 
MINUTES OF COOPER CLUB MEETINGS 
NORTHERN DIVISION 
October. — The regular monthly meeting 
of the Northern Division of the Cooper Or- 
nithological Club was held at the Museum 
of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, California, 
Thursday evening, October 28, 1915, at 8 
p. m. In absence of both the President and 
Vice-President, Dr. H. C. Bryant assumed 
