(Authors are responsible for nomenclature used.) 



The Scottish Naturalist 



No. 36.] 1914 [December 



EDITORIAL. 



Two papers on the Gannet, by J. H. Gurney, who has 

 made this bird the object of so much careful study, have 

 been recently published. The first of these 1 bears the title, 

 " Are Gannets Destructive Birds ? " and deals with the 

 question of the bird's food-supply, and its bearing upon the 

 stock of Herrings round our coasts. It has been alleged 

 that, since the Herring forms the main food-supply of the 

 Gannet, the great quantities devoured by this species must 

 materially affect the stock available for man. But with 

 the aid of figures Mr Gurney shows that the depredations 

 of this interesting member of our avifauna have really 

 little effect, owing chiefly to the extraordinary fecundity 

 of the fish. It is opined, indeed, that but for the Gannet 

 and other piscivorous sea - birds, the seas would soon 

 become overstocked, and the part played by sea-fowl is 

 not inaptly compared with that of birds of prey, which 

 keep a healthy check upon our threatening hordes of 

 rats and mice ; or that of small birds, which in the same 

 way prevent a too rapid multiplication of noxious insects. 

 The author estimates that the number of herrings brought 

 into British ports during 1913 approximated three thousand 

 millions. In the face of this calculation we can surely feel 

 satisfied that there is no fear of a depletion in the stock of 

 1 Irish Naturalist, October 1914, PP- 212-213. 

 36 2L 



