1 64 BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 



these insects destroyed as balancing, not one, but many 

 grains of corn, and on this reckoning the rook is 

 decidedly beneficial. 



Bearing upon this deduction, it may be pointed out 

 that there is evidence in the reports that the rooks 

 obtained large quantities of grain in the months of 

 May and June, and this is reckoned in the adverse 

 scale of the balance. Now where did they get this 

 grain in the summer months? Until that question is 

 answered satisfactorily, this corn ought not to stand 

 as evidence against them. On the other hand, Mr. 

 Leigh's evidence as to the destruction of wire-worms 

 and leather-jackets by the rooks is most impressive. 

 If, as he found, one rook will swallow 95 leather- 

 jackets at a meal, and another 103 wire-worms, we can 

 understand what an immense benefit these birds are 

 to the farmer in clearing his fields of these most 

 destructive insects. 



It may be fairly argued from these reports that the 

 case against the rooks has not yet been established, 

 and therefore that the action of some of the county 

 councils in encouraging the shooting of rooks on 

 a great scale should be most severely condemned. 

 What is really wanted is further information on the 

 habits of the bird, and particularly on the food supplied 

 to the nestlings. Such information we are not likely 

 to get in the near future, for, with what we may regard 

 as our national failing in clear foresight, the grants 

 for the investigations have been withdrawn, and the 

 work left in an incomplete and unsatisfactory con- 

 dition. 



Nevertheless, the collected evidence of these investi- 

 gations does at least warn us of the danger of any 

 scheme for the indiscriminate slaughter of these birds. 

 It has shown that, although they take some toll of the 

 grain both at sowing-time and at the harvest, they 



