ECONOMIC ORNITHOLOGY 281 



The family of Gulls (Laridae) may on the whole be said to 

 be beneficial from the farmer's point of view. 



Those that we find inland are the Common Gull (Larus 

 camts, Linn.), the Herring Gull (L. argentatus, Gmelin), and 

 the Brown-headed Gull (L. ridibitndus, Linn). They may very 

 frequently be seen a long way from the sea in winter and 

 spring, following the plough, and taking all kinds of surface 

 larvae and grubs that are thrown up with the soil. 



It has been said that the Brown-headed Gull, which breeds 

 in colonies locally, is destructive to young trout and salmon, 

 but the Rev. Henry Slater, who investigated this matter for 

 the Cumberland County Council, tells us that he failed to find 

 the least evidence of their doing so. This gull not only takes 

 grubs, but also adult chafers and moths. Now and again the 

 Common Gull, which does not breed south of the Solway, will 

 take grain, and so will the Herring Gull, and both have been 

 found to pull up young turnips and destroy them ; nevertheless, 

 it is well known that insects, slugs, and worms form their chief 

 food when inland. Two Laridae only can be placed on the 

 " black list," namely, the Lesser Blackback {L. fuscus, Linn.), 

 which does some harm to inland game, and the Great Black- 

 back (L. marinus, Linn.), which is recorded as attacking sickly 

 lambs, and even sheep. The farmer seems certainly justified 

 in keeping the latter in its proper place by the sea-shore, where 

 it destroys garbage. 



Game-birds must be looked upon in rather a different light. 

 Of the two families, the Phasianidae and the Tetraonidae, the 

 latter may be excluded in regard to any damage done, unless 

 it is by the Capercaillie (Tetrao urogalliis, Linn.), which was 

 exterminated in the eighteenth century and re-introduced into 

 Scotland in 1837, an d which is now especially common in the 

 fir-woods of Perthshire. Fisher mentions it as injurious in 

 nurseries and cultivations of conifers in winter and spring by 

 biting off buds and young shoots ; it also damages birch buds 

 and cones, the cock being more injurious than the hen. But 

 it also does good by destroying insects, and its value for sport 

 and food must discount any damage it does. 



Some farmers complain of Pheasants and Partridges. 

 Certainly the former scratch up some seed-corn and cause 

 minor inconveniences, but the complainers must not forget 

 that they do an enormous amount of good by destroying 



