THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF WILD BIRDS 55 



The probable extension of cereal cultivation in the near 

 future, and also that of fruit cultivation, in addition to a 

 large increase in small farms and small holdings, will 

 increase our rural population greatly, so that once again 

 we shall see agriculture taking its proper place amongst 

 the industries of this country, and any factor that makes 

 it difficult to cultivate this or that crop at a profit, will have 

 to be more carefully inquired into than in the past. 



We are already told that economic forces will compel 

 thousands of women to enter the fields of agriculture and 

 horticulture at no distant date, and anything that handicaps 

 the large grower will tell with double force against those in 

 a smaller way, and, in most cases, with but small capital. 



The question therefore arises, " How does the subject 

 of the feeding habits of wild birds affect these great national 

 industries? " It affects them in three ways, viz. : 



1. In that many species are protected which are distinctly 

 injurious, and as a consequence hundreds of thousands of 

 pounds' worth of food is destroyed by them annually. 



2. That many species which are beneficial are destroyed, 

 and so vermin, upon which they largely subsist, exact an 

 enormous toll upon the produce of the land. 



3. There are a number of species with reference to 

 which we yet require much more detailed information 

 before it can be decided to which class they belong. 



With reference to the first class, there is now a consider- 

 able mass of evidence, much of which is founded upon 

 careful scientific investigation. Take, for instance, the case 

 of the rook and the starling. Gilmour in 1896 examined 

 the stomach contents of 355 rooks; Thring in 1910, 141 ; 

 Florence in 1912, 162; and the writer, 689. Here we have 

 a total, from all parts of the country, of 1347, the cumulative 

 evidence from which goes to show that of recent years there 

 has been a large increase in the numbers of this bird, and 

 with the present large number a grain diet is preferred. 



Respecting the starling, we have witnessed an enormous 

 increase during the past twelve or thirteen years, due partly 

 to migration and partly to the protection afforded it. As 

 the result of an extended inquiry in which the stomach 



