BEASTS AND BIRDS AS FARM PESTS. By James Ritchie.

1931 1st edition. 8vo (144 x 231mm). Ppxii,270,ads. B/w photographs and illustrations. Green cloth, spine titled in black.

"It is a strange thing that although British literature is notorious for the number of its books on birds and beasts and that other nations point the finger at our practicality, no British book that I can think of has combined these characteristics in a treatise for the guidance of the farmer. We have many books on Insect Pests but none on the subject of this volume. Yet the agricultural damage suffered yearly from the attacks of beasts ...and birds is very far from negligible: the Brown Rat alone is responsible for annual losses exceeding ten millions of pounds sterling, the House-Sparrow's bill runs to some eight millions. ...But the naturalist also will find some interest in regarding the objects of his study from a fresh point of view, and I should like to think that here the County Councils of Great Britain will obtain help in deciding the difficult problems of the protection or otherwise of birds, which are laid upon their shoulders by the Wild Birds Protection Acts". Chapters include: Pests in general; Beasts and live stock; Beasts injurious to crops and pasture; Beasts which waste woodland; Beasts destructive to stored goods and property; On the border line - reputed pests having the balance in their favour; Birds and agriculture; Birds and live stock; Birds and grain crops - regular offenders; Birds and grain crops - casual marauders; Birds destructive to green crops and roots; Birds and the garden; Birds and the woods; A final word about the birds - unlabelled pests, the web of life, temper enmity with justice.