2/0 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



food and shore garbage is taken by them, but all evidence 

 points to their injurious nature, even on the coast, as destroyers 

 of mussels and cockles. 



The Jackdaw {Corvus monedula, Linn.) is a great wireworm 

 and insect destroyer, and if it does a little injury to cherries 

 and other fruit in dry seasons, and takes a few eggs and now 

 and then fowls' food, it nevertheless must be looked upon as 

 beneficial, as far as evidence goes at present. 



The Magpie {Pica rustica, Scopoli) affords a most difficult 

 problem. It is an arrant thief: it will take young chicks and 

 eggs, it strips rows of peas, and will even attack young and 

 sickly stock. But as a means of keeping the blackbird and the 

 woodpigeon in check it is said to be of the greatest value, 

 and as the two latter are serious enemies of man, it might be 

 wise to suffer annoying loss for more permanent good. It is 

 doubtful, however, if it does as much good as is supposed in 

 the case of the woodpigeon, for it is those pigeons that migrate 

 to us from the Continent that do most harm, and not our 

 home-bred birds, which are considerably larger. The opinion, 

 however, held by some authorities is that it is beneficial, 

 whilst others practically interested wish to discourage it. 



Of the Jay (Garrulus glandarins, Linn.) it seems still more 

 difficult to judge, for on one hand the Rev. H. Slater (2, p. 248) 

 says, " I would never shoot a jay," and on the other Fred Smith 

 says (3, p. 7) " he should be kept down." On the one hand 

 we have the opinion of a skilled ornithologist, on the other of a 

 skilled grower. It is certainly harmful in fruit plantations, 

 spoiling countless numbers of the best coloured apples, de- 

 stroying nuts, plums, and frequently, like the magpie, whole 

 rows of peas. In return the Jay takes many blackbirds' eggs, 

 slugs, snails, cockchafers and other insects, mice, and young 

 birds. It seems that they do no damage in game preserves, 

 and the gamekeeper is wrong in his persecution of them from 

 his own point of view ; but according to Mr. F. Smith, it is a 

 pity they are not more persecuted when the preserves are 

 near fruit. 



Except that they are excellent eating, nothing good can be 

 said for the Woodpigeon or the Stockdove. Moreover, the 

 former are very much on the increase, and the yearly bands 

 of robbers that come to us from the Continent of Europe in 

 winter and stay into early spring cause endless damage to the 



