Economic Relations of Birds and Their Food. By F. E. L. Beal. Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth Annual Meeting of the New Jersey State Horticultural Society, January 4 and 5, 1899.
As long as man's attitude toward nature is the standpoint of dollars and cents, bird-lovers will welcome every fact which places them in possession of a fresh argument to be used where appeals to sentiment are of no avail. It is, therefore, with great satisfaction that we receive these sound, convincing papers on economic zoölogy.
Dr. Palmer's paper has long been needed and, fortunately or unfortunately, so unanswerable are the facts which he presents, that one would imagine universal knowledge of them would be all that was necessary to avert further danger from the introduction of exotic species. The subject, however, should receive the prompt attention of legislators, in order that it may be duly placed under the control of the proper authorities—obviously the officials of the Biologic Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture.
In giving us the results of his studies of the food of certain seed-eating birds, Dr. Judd at the same time places their economic importance so far beyond dispute that we trust every agriculturist in the land may become familiar with his facts and figures. None of the many valuable papers issued by the Biological Survey has had a more obvious value than this one.
In his lecture before the New Jersey Horticultural Society, Professor Beal discusses unprejudicedly birds' power for good or evil. He shows that while insects, especially certain noxious species, have greatly increased since the settlement of this country, birds have decreased, and that in order to restore the balance disturbed by man, an increase in the number of our birds is greatly to be desired.—F. M. C.
Book News
Every lover of animals must rejoice in the phenomenal success achieved by Ernest Seton Thompson's 'Wild Animals I have Known.' Although published only last October, over 14,000 copies have been sold, and the book's popularity increases as its charm becomes more widely known. Mr. Thompson has done more to bridge the gap between human life and animal life than any writer we have known. One has only to read his work to become convinced of one's kinship with the lower forms of life.
