A CHAIR OF ECONOMIC ORNITHOLOGY 123 



From my notes, I find that the first fields of corn were cut 

 from the 24th to the 29th of August, and that with the 

 exception of a single belated, late-sown field, the whole 

 grain crops were cut and in stack, and the stubbles raked, 

 by the early days of October. My district is in the same 

 county as Sir John Gilmour's, and the agricultural calendar 

 of the two places may be taken to be as nearly as possible 

 identical. 



Even in the sowing months, much of the grain picked up 

 is not in diminution of the country's food supply. Pigeons 

 do not scratch as domestic fowls do, and most of the grain 

 they pick up is grain left uncovered on the surface of the 

 ground, which would not in any case go to swell the harvest 

 yield. This too might to a considerable extent be classed as 

 waste material, but as undoubtedly some of this diet involves 

 a loss to the country, for some of the grains were sprouted, 

 for the purpose of this analysis let it all go in the category of 

 " injuries." 



In hard weather, rotten potatoes and turnip tops are the 

 staple food. These are much in evidence in the crop-contents 

 examined during the months of December 1894, and of 

 January and February 1895, and this is as one would expect ; 

 for towards the end of the year, there began a " storm " of 

 unusual severity, the temperature being almost continuously 

 below the freezing point until well on in March. At this 

 season turnip tops are practically waste material, for their 

 function is at an end ; and rotten potatoes, or potatoes of any 

 kind left lying on the bare fields, are wholly so. 



Applying these principles then, a different analysis of the 

 schedule on p. n of the reprint would produce the following 

 results (see Table, pp. 124-125). 



In the 374 diets therefore, Sir John Gilmour's classifica- 

 tion is 



Weeds (good) .... 73 



Trees (neutral) .... 47 



Crops (bad) .... 254 



374 



