20 



Bird Notes and News 



water. How different too from the way 

 the Kingfisher drops like a stone from a 

 branch above the quiet pool upon the un- 

 suspecting minnow, and goes in over head 

 and ears when so doing, 



" Gulls do not pursue fish on the surface 

 of the water : nor do they dive in search of 

 them. I once had a pair of Gulls in my 

 garden Avhere there was a moat full of trout, 

 for whose safety I had no fear. I knew them 

 all, and knew their number, for they were 

 pet show fish. None were touched : they 

 were far too sharp for that. On one occa- 

 sion I threw into the moat thi'ee or four 

 herrings which sank tAvo feet to the bottom 

 in clear water. The Gulls swam about with- 

 out attempting to take them. At last after 

 two days I raked them out of the moat ; 

 and the Gulls eagerly devoured them when 

 throwTi upon the lawn. 



" Here we are ten or twelve miles from 

 the sea ; and there are great numbers of 

 Gulls, principally Blackheaded, all the year 

 round, which are sometimes to be seen on 

 the river Nar either resting or washing in 

 the water. They do not fish the stream, 

 nor do they patrol the banks as they patrol 

 the seashore. It is not worth their while, 

 though the river is Avell stocked Avith trout. 

 They seek their food in the open fields, and 

 there they do a vast amount of good. Early 

 this year I watched a sight commonly to be 

 seen. Five hundred Gulls Avere following 

 the plough in one of our fields. They lined 

 the ncAV-cut furrows, eagerly devouring the 

 grubs in the upturned earth. These five 

 hundred birds, in the course of tAvelve 

 months, account for several hundredweights 

 of insects and their larvae which prey upon 

 the farmers' crops, 



" I have just been staying on the coast 

 Avhere there are mussel beds. The fisher- 

 men say that Gulls do not attack the beds 

 Avhen exposed at Ioav tide ; but that the 

 Hooded Crows often do. Anyone acquainted 

 Avith a part of the coast like Haylmg Beach 

 must have noticed these crows cracking 

 shell-fish by dropping them from a height 

 on to the shingle. 



"At times Gulls drop a fish they are 

 carrymg, but not for the same reason as 

 the Crow. It breaks away or slips from the 

 bill, as a fisherman said to me a day or 

 two ago. They often drop it on the sea 

 and pick it up again. Gulls find a ready 



morsel in a mussel cast upon the shore dead 

 and gaping, but not in one alive and shut. 



" The above are some of the reasons for 

 thinking that Gulls are useful birds." 



The attempt made to weaken the Gulls 

 Act of the Isle of Man has failed for the 

 present. By this Act, passed in 1868 

 (the time of the agitation for the Sea- 

 Birds Preservation Act in England), 

 complete protection is given to all Gulls 

 and their eggs, " Gulls " including 

 Gannets and Guillemots, A proposal to 

 authorize owners of land to shoot the 

 birds was made in the supposed interests 

 of the farmers ; but the Manx Legislative 

 Council, on May lOth, rejected the Bill, 

 holding that no sufficient evidence had 

 been furnished and that the allegation 

 against the Gulls had not been proved. 



SIX FRIENDS OF THE TREES. 



Six feathered friends of the trees were 

 selected by Mr. Cambridge Phillips as 

 the subject of his address at the annual 

 meeting of the Woolhope (Herefordshire) 

 Naturalists' Field Club in April last. 

 First, the Green Woodpecker, who is 

 able by his powerful bill to reach insects 

 and caterpillars boring under the bark ; 

 second, the more uncommon Great 

 Spotted Woodpecker, which also feeds on 

 insects and grubs, and in winter lives 

 largely on the destructive larvae of the 

 leopard-moth ; third, the Lesser Wood- 

 pecker, keeping clean twigs and buds that 

 Avould not support so heavy a bird as the 

 Green Woodpecker ; fourth, the charming 

 little Nuthatch ; fifth, the Wrjnaeck, 

 which assists in summer, when insects 

 abound ; and, sixth, the small Tree-creeper 

 which devotes the whole of its useful life 

 to searching for insects in the crevices of 

 the bark. 



