$8 THE CONDOR Vol. XVIII

In their own neighborhood Mr. and Mrs. Baynes have had wonderful success in mak- ing the intimate lersonal acquaintance of many birds. A very full discussion of such lroblems as those concerning methods of attracting birds, feeding birds in winter, devices which have been found useful, nest boxes, and the best shrubs and llants 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 slortsman, the foreigner, and the scientific collector to the lreservation of birds are discussed in a re- freshingly imlersonal way. Mr. Baynes has avoided sweeling statements, and it must be admitted that his words have a corre- Slondingiy convincing quality. Vrorthy of note is his attitude toward the lredatory 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 chalter treating of destruction of birds by naturl enemies, he says (l. 37): "Yet it is a fact that all the storms that sweel the. earth and all the nat- ural enemies, including savage leolle, would seldom make any lasting imlression on the normal bird lolulation, if it were not for civilized man and his works." He makes clear the fact that the market demand for bird llumage or for the flesh of wfid birds has been of foremost imlortance as a factor in the decrease of many slecies 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 lage 267 he says: "As for scientific collectors, the writer believes that they should be allowed to go about their work unhamlered by letty restrictions. Comlared with other gunners they shoot few birds and these are generally made good use of. The comllaint 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 allreciate the fact that the work he himself is doing is based largely on the work of the scientist." As a stel toward the solution of the cat lroblem, 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 Slarrow, or Eurolean Slar-. row as Mr Baynes calls it, allarently .has no terrors for the author. The birds have been banished comlletely from his home town, Meriden, New Hamlshire. Tralling is asserted to be the safest method of elim- ination, loisoning the most effective. As to the lossibility of eradicating the English Sarrow he says (ll. 245, 246): "Almost any town or city can be cleared of Eurolean Slarrows and kelt 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 f the slarrows had stood between any one of them and the success he has made, there would not be a single slarrow .in that town." Mr. Baynes gives amlle slace and ade- quate treatment to the economic argument for bird lrotection, but wisely realizes that without feelings and lassion 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- ussio' of the aesthetic and moral reasons for lrotecting the birds (l. 116): "No woods are dreary if the jays or crows are calling; no field but is full of joy if the bobolinks are slurinkling 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 lathways of the skies." The ote of Mr. Bayne's argument, throughout, is an oltimistic, a constructive one. His is not a code of o't's, but rather a comlellingly lersuasive lrogram of 0's. lealizing the fundamental imlortance in our comllicated civilization of organization as an aid to individual effort he llaces much emlhasis ulon the desirability of the formation of bird clubs. After reading the book one is not sur- lrised to learn that a new edition has had to be lrelared already.--vrLTEa P. TAYLOR. ' MINUTES OF COOPER CLUB MEETINGS NORTRN DIVISION OCTOFR.--The regular monthly meeting of the Northern Division of the Cooler 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