FALCONRY. A HANDBOOK FOR HUNTERS,

by William F. Russell Jr. '37, CharlesScribner's Sons, New York, pp. 777,$2.50.

As its title implies this book will make its appeal chiefly to the small but enthusiastic group of devotees of the classic sport of falconry. It might well be read however by the many who would like to know something of the history and practice of this fascinating sport which has endured through some four thousand years but who lack the leisure and endless patience necessary for its practice.

To those of us who knew Bill Russell as a student here and witnessed his boundless enthusiasm for hawks and "hawking" it comes as no surprise that he has written a book about it which carries to the reader something of his spirit. The training of a falcon is a demanding occupation and Bill spent most of the examination period in June of his freshman year with a little sparrow hawk perched on his wrist, parting from her only during his examination hours. Those hours she spent on a perch in the reviewer's back yard, greatly to the indignation of the brown thrashers and robins which had their nests nearby.

Beginning with an account of falconry as practiced in early times, the book continues with a discussion of the falcons and accipeters native to America which can be employed successfully in hunting, giving due need of praise to the duck hawk: greatest flyer of them all. Then follow chapters dealing with hunting conditions in various parts of this country and giving detailed instruction for the capture, care and training of hawks and their employment in hunting various types of game. It concludes with a description of the implements of the sport, a glossary of terms used in falconry and a bibliography.

The book is well illustrated with photographs by the author, drawings by W. D. Sargent showing details of technic and some very attractive chapter heading sketches also by Mr. Sargent.

While the training and flying of every hawk is more or less an individual problem, for hawks, even of the same species, differ much in personality this book is a complete and excellent working manual for the falconer.

Marcel Proust and His French Critics, by 1). W. Alden '33, Beau-Poil au Maroc, and Peches de Jeunesse by Professor Francois Denoeu, Invasion from Mars by Hadley Cantril '28, Heaven on Earth by W. J. McNiff '24, The Financing of Grant-Aided Education inEngland and Wales by Fletcher Harper Swift '98, Come Spring by Ben Ames Williams '10, and Mr. Secretary by Ben Ames Williams Jr. '38, will be reviewed in later issues of the MAGAZINE.

The January-February issue of the Hornbook contains a story by Professor Eric P. Kelly '06 entitled Cracow Is StillSinging.

Changes in Reading Performance during the Freshman Year of College by Professor Robert M. Bear and Dr. Henry A. Imus has been reprinted from the December issue of The Journal of EducationalPsychology.