Fröhner, Knudsen,[1] and I. Schneider,[2] the flesh of animals killed by strychnia poisoning may be consumed without fear of poisoning after being freed from the entrails, and prepared in the proper manner.
Jarrold & Sons, of Warwick Lane, E.C., invite subscriptions to a proposed volume—'Letters and Notes on the Natural History of Norfolk, more especially on the Birds and Fishes, from the MSS. of Sir Thomas Browne, M.D. (1605-82). With Notes by Thomas Southwell, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.' We understand that the appearance of this book is dependent on a certain measure of promised support.
In the 'Transactions' of the Natural History Society of Glasgow, vol. vi. pt. 1, Mr. Hugh Boyd Watt has contributed "A Census of Glasgow Rookeries," compiled in the season of 1900. The following is a summary of results:—Eight Rookeries inside the city (Dalmarnock, Belvidere, Langside, Camphill, Crosshill, Ibroxhill, Bellahouston, and Botanic Gardens) contain 384 nests; and the other Rookeries of which details are given (say) 911 nests = 1295 in all. Add to this 10 per cent, for omissions and oversights (Mr. Watt's experience is that he under-estimates the numbers of birds, generally speaking), making a total of 1425 nests. This represents 2850 parent birds, and, assuming that each nest sends out into the world two young birds, there are a further 2850, making the native Rook population of the outskirts of Glasgow last summer amount to 5700 birds.
Mr. Alfred J. North has drawn attention to the importation of foreign mammals in New South Wales as an indirect factor in the destruction of a vast number of Australian Birds ('Records, Australian Museum,' vol, iv. p. 19). The phosphorized oats used as poisoned baits for decreasing the number of Rabbits has also caused the annual destruction of thousands of graminivorous birds, "chiefly the ground- and grass-frequenting species of Pigeons, Parakeets, Finches, and Quail." To cope with the Rabbits, domestic Cats were also turned loose, with the result that, after the Rabbits had been eradicated or disappeared, the felines—now become wild and of increased size—turned their attention to the ground- and low-bush frequenting birds, destroying large numbers of many species, and causing the total extinction of others where they were once common. The Fox, described as "that acclimatised curse" in Victoria, is not only robbing poultry-yards, but destroying numbers of most interesting species of the Victorian avifauna. In the lair of one of these animals the remains of upwards of thirty tails of Queen Victoria's Lyre-bird were found, mostly those of female and presumably sitting birds.
