Bird Notes and News 



.19 



put, as some competitors put them, under 

 three heads : (1) Wire netting and nets to 

 make the plants inaccessible to birds ; this 

 is obviously limited to small areas of par- 

 ticular crops, and has various drawbacks ; 

 (2) alarming noises, created by the firing of 

 guns, automatic explosions, " rook-boys " 

 with clappers and rattles and yells, jangling 

 windmills, clattering tin and glass, bells, 

 etc. ; (3) alarming sights, such as real or 

 imitation hawks and cats, scarecrows on the 

 " dummy " plan, streamers of rag and jDaper, 

 and zigzaggings of black cotton. These 

 things are found effective, but it cannot be 

 denied that in the main they are eminently 



primitive in character. The thought natu- 

 rally occurs, if such devices, which have for 

 the most part to depend upon the resource 

 and ingenuity of the individual grower, are 

 yet pronounced efficacious in keeping himgry 

 birds from tempting food, how much more 

 easily might not success be attained by some 

 practical scientific invention or inventions ! 

 . . . The wits of man have lagged far 

 behind the wits of Birds, whose intelligence 

 soon descries the harmlessness of the clang 

 that reverberates every half-hour and does 

 no execution, and of the bogey that remains 

 in one spot without swoop or pounce or 

 step forward." 



Economic Ornitholo 



gy- 



IS THE GULL ECONOMICALLY 

 USEFUL ? 



The Rev. E. T. Daubeny (Southacre 

 Rectory, Norfolk), writes : — 



" At the present time constantly recur- 

 ring attacks are made on Gulls as inimical to 

 anglers, fishermen, and farmers ; and it is 

 for those w^ho have made a study of the 

 habits of these birds, and also the habits 

 of the creatures on which they feed, to sift 

 the evidence and see whether these attacks 

 are justified or not. In so doing it is my 

 endeavour to lay aside humanitarian con- 

 siderations, and feelings of admiration that 

 have crept over me after long and close 

 association with many of^the gull tribe. 

 When speaking of Gulls, I mean Gulls proper, 

 such as the Common Gull, Kittiwake, Black- 

 headed, and Herring-Gulls. These should not 

 be confounded with those sea-birds that 

 swiftly swoop down on living fish, and 

 pursue them in their native element : such as 

 Gannets, Cormorants, Guillemots, and many 

 divers. In watching the habits of Gulls, 

 especially when on land, a knowledge of 

 entomology is sometimes of great service, 

 as indeed it is in estimating the economic 

 value of most other birds. 



"It is difficult to place too high a value 

 on the usefulness of Gulls. They belong to 

 Nature's mighty army of scavengers, whose 

 unceasing work it is to keep our shores 

 clean and sea-breezes sweet. Were it not 



for them many a beach would be fouled, 

 and the air tainted, by putrid masses of 

 dead fish, and other creatures cast up by 

 the waves. In places such as Lowestoft 

 the absence of Gulls would be wellnigh dis- 

 astrous. During the fishing season Lowes- 

 toft Harbour, which is imperfectly flushed 

 by the tide, is covered with carcases and 

 fragments of fish. Were it not for the GuUs 

 the water of the harbour would be con- 

 taminated, and the health and prosperity of 

 the town endangered. Gulls are splendid 

 sanitary inspectors. 



" Fishermen sometimes complain that 

 Gulls are harmful to their trade. They say 

 that they consume vast quantities of fish 

 and injure the fisheries. But is there not 

 another side to the matter ? The real ques- 

 tion, as far as they are concerned is, what 

 fish do Gulls consume ? Live ? or dead ? 

 If it can be sho^vn that they feed almost 

 exclusively on fish that are either dead or 

 dying, the hue and cry against them is surely 

 far louder than it ought to be. The swoop 

 of the GuU upon its food on the surface of 

 the water is not a rapid one. The bird 

 picks it up with the tip of the beak while 

 flying. It is the lifting up of a dead thing, 

 for living fish, imless in an enfeebled or 

 dying state, are rarely caught by such an 

 act. How utterly different from the ' bolt 

 from the blue ' of the Gannet, that with 

 do^^'nward rush is on to his living prey in an 

 instant, and impales it with his terrible bill 

 whether beneath or on the surface of the 



