POPULAR SCIENCE 



THE PRESERVATION OF GAME-BIRDS 

 AND ITS RELATION TO AGRICULTURE 



By WALTER E. COLLINGE, D.Sc, F.L.S., 

 The University, St. Andrews 



The relationship existing between game-bird preservation and 

 agriculture is a subject that presents numerous difficulties and 

 many intricate controversial problems. Most, if not all, of 

 these have little to do with the game-birds themselves, but are 

 rather questions between landlord and tenant. Of such we 

 disclaim any practical knowledge, but with the ways and the 

 habits of those wild birds scheduled as game-birds, and their 

 relationship to the land and the crops grown thereon, we claim 

 a long and intimate acquaintanceship, and it would seem worth 

 while, in view of recent developments, to once again carefully 

 set forth what we believe to be the true economic position of 

 these birds. 



If they are injurious to the farmer, then the sooner the 

 Game Act is repealed the better, for, after all, agriculture is 

 much more important to the nation than the preservation of 

 game-birds. On the other hand, if they are beneficial, i.e. the 

 cultivation, breeding, and preservation of the birds themselves, 

 as apart from any indirect benefits that accrue to certain 

 members of the community from the fact that they offer sport 

 to another section, the facts cannot be too widely known. 

 Moreover, if, apart from their direct value, they offer a source 

 of home-grown food, their value and importance is further 

 enhanced. 



That the various Game Laws are statutes of perfection we 

 do not for a moment claim ; on the other hand, the merest tyro 

 interested in agriculture could off-hand suggest many much- 

 desired improvements, but these and all such subsidiary sub- 

 jects are foreign to the object we at present have in view, 



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