Bird Notes and News 



29 



Economic Ornithology 



WOMEN'S WORK ON THE LAND. 



On the appointment of Dame Meriel Talbot as 

 Woman Adviser to the Ministry of Agriculture, 

 a letter was addressed to her by the Secretary, 

 hoping that through her efforts the interest of 

 women in birds, and knowledge of the relation 

 of wild birds to agriculture, might be promoted, 

 as a means not only of benefiting agriculture, 

 but also of adding to the pleasures of rural life. 

 The following reply was received : — 



Thank you very much for your letter, and for the 

 kind expressions it contains of pleasure at my appoint- 

 ment as Woman Adviser to the Ministry. 



I need not assure you that. the object of the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds is one with which I 

 have the fullest sympathy. It will be my constant 

 endeavour to help in every way that is possible to bring 

 the valuable information contained in the papers of 

 your Society home to the rural women of this country. 

 ..There can be little doubt that it is only ignorance of 

 the facts which leads to the very harmful destruction 

 of wild birds. As a member of the Central Federation 

 of Women's Institutes I shall be glad to press home the 

 importance of the subject, and in other ways I shall 

 hope to be of service to your Society. 



BIRDS AND INSECT PESTS. 



The following letter has been received from 

 Mr. H. C. Long, dated from the Ministry of 

 Agriculture, September 11th, 1920: — 



I beg to thank you for your letter of the 28th July 

 last, in which it is suggested that it would be useful if 

 mention were made in the Notes on Insect and F\mgus 

 Pests, published periodically in the Ministry's Journal, 

 of the species of wild birds which destroy the different 

 insects. Your letter has been considered in the 

 Department, and it is agreed that the suggestion 

 might usefxilly be adopted. It is hoped, therefore, to 

 mention from time to time in these Notes species of 

 wild birds which destroy the insects dealt with. 



The Ministry of Agriculture have recently 

 issued revised editions of their leaflets on the 

 Lapwing, Starling, and Barn Owl. The first- 

 named contains a list of the County and County 

 Borough Orders protecting the eggs of the bird, 

 and giving the extent of this protection. 

 Twenty-five of the 42 County Orders and 22 of 

 the 33 Borough Orders have been obtained 

 since the issue of the Society's circular letter 

 to the Councils in 1919. In the Starling leaflet 

 the volumetric analysis of its food given by 

 Dr. W. E. CoUinge {Journ. Bd. Agri.) is adopted, 

 with the conclusion that the bird is at present 

 injurious owing to the increase in its numbers, 

 but if considerably reduced would economically 

 prove most useful and valuable. 



BIRD PROTECTION IN CANADA. 



The Canadian Ministry of the Interior have 

 published an admirable little pamphlet giving 



the views with regard to birds and their utility 

 held by the Ministers of Agriculture for Sas- 

 katchewan (Hon. C. M. Hamilton), Quebec 

 (Hon. J. E. Caron), Ontario (Hon. Manning W. 

 Doherty), and Manitoba (Hon. Valentine 

 Winkler). Stress is laid by all on the great 

 value of birds through their services to agri- 

 culture as well as by their charm and beauty ; 

 and on the need for teaching and influencing 

 children to love and protect them. Copies of 

 the pamphlet can be had from the Commissioner, 

 Dominion Parks Branch, Department of the 

 Interior, Ottawa. 



AGRICULTURE VERSUS FASHION. 



Mr. F. W. Fitzsimons, F.Z.S., Director of the 

 Port Elizabeth Museum, who has lately been 

 on a visit to England and investigating the 

 pros and cons of the Plumage Trade, writes in 

 the Farmers'' Weekly of South Africa : 



" The ancient Incas of Peru were fully aUve to the 

 value of guano, and the birds which produced it were 

 rigorously protected. In 1853 the Peruvian Govern- 

 ment valued the guano deposits at 620 million dollars. 

 If the Incas were not as advanced in some ways as 

 we are they were certainly possessed of more practical 

 sense. . . . We know the economic value of wild 

 birds ; yet we stand aside and aUow them to be perse- 

 cuted at the will of any cruelty-loving or money- 

 coveting person. We do more. We encourage our 

 womankind to adorn themselves with their plumage. 

 For instance, 300,000 guano-producing sea birds 

 were, within a month, slain on a guano island in the 

 Pacific to supply the plume merchants of London. 

 Can a more brutal or senseless thing be imagined ? 



THE FOOD OF THE ROOK. 



Writing in the Journal of the Ministry of 

 Agriculture (Dec, 1920), Dr. W. E. Collinge 

 computes the food of the Rook by his volumetric 

 method, and arrives at the conclusion that 41 

 per cent, of the food of the Rook consists of 

 animal matter and 59 per cent, of vegetable 

 matter ; the former figure including 23' 9 

 per cent, of injurious insects (wireworms, 

 leather] ackets, weevils, etc.), and the latter 

 being mainly made up of cereals and potatoes 

 and roots. Dr. Collinge's decision is that the 

 birds are therefore proving injurious because 

 there are too many of them ; that repressive 

 measures should be used ; that a systematic 

 taking of eggs and destruction of nests in 

 districts where there is conclusive evidence of the 

 superabundance of the birds would probably 

 be sufiicient ; and that reckless and wanton 

 destruction would be likely to lead to serious 

 and disastrous results. 



