38 



Bird Notes and News 



Economic Ornithology. 



Mr. V. H. Lucas, one of the practical 

 gardeners who contributes to Farm, Gar- 

 den^ and Birds, writes ; — 



" I have read with very much interest the 

 short article in Bird Notes db News on the 

 above subject, as it affects Gulls. I can very 

 truly endorse every word written, because 1 

 have personally for a long number of years 

 studied the halDits of Gulls at close quarters, 

 both on land as grub destroyers, and along 

 the seashore and on tidal estuaries as scaven- 

 gers of filth, etc. I have, and always shall 

 defend the birds of the seashore as the best 

 friends of the nation in general. To under- 

 stand the true value of bird-life, I have said 

 before and I repeat with greater sincerity 

 than ever, it is an absolute essential to know 

 something of Botany, Entomology and 

 Ornithology, and those who condemn birds 

 most, are Just the very persons whose know- 

 ledge of these subjects is most scanty or 

 almost nil. I have challenged charges which 

 have been made concerning the destructive- 

 ness of Gulls to shell-fish, etc., but those who 

 have made the charges have not taken up the 

 challenge, and I can only conclude that they 

 have had such slender evidence to work upon 

 that their case would be lost. 



" As a daily observer of bird-life from a 

 very wide vantage ground, and as one who has 

 most to lose or gain from whichever point of 

 view we study them, I am yet convinced that 

 with all the mischief such birds as Rooks do 

 on the land in digging out some potatoes, 

 etc., they more than compensate the loss by 

 the destroying of the many insect pests. I 

 have evidence of it this season ; I know they 

 have taken out many seed potatoes, but 

 they have also taken something which if 

 left in the ground would have been of infinite 

 harm, so that if I lose in one way I gain 

 in another. 



" Again, I had last year about half an acre 

 of late carrots which were terribly attacked 

 by the Rooks, and on making investigation 

 I found that the whole lot of carrots were 

 infested with wireworm ; these birds had 

 found it out, and thus proved a theory of 

 mine which I have often advanced, that 



where their natural insect-food is, there you 

 will have bird-life. On another piece of land, 

 I also had carrots ; these were free from pests, 

 also free from bird destruction. I could go 

 on giving similar cases, but surely no more 

 need be said to convince all who will think, 

 of the economic value of bird -life to the 

 nation. As education advances, that value 

 Avill be more fully appreciated. 



" Gulls as scavengers of all kinds of filth 

 are worth their weight in gold. Wherever 

 these birds are in evidence and there is any 

 garbage about of a foul nature they are there 

 to do their duty, and it only needs a very little 

 observation at the sea-side or on any tidal 

 rivers to see for oneself that it is not fish that 

 these birds are after but all kinds of floating 

 pieces of filth. The only conclusion I have 

 ever come to regarding these charges of fish- 

 destroying — and I say it from experience of 

 the birds' habits — is that the charges have 

 such a one-sided selfish motive that they 

 will not bear the light of investigation." 



M. A. Chappellier, writing in the Feuille 

 des Jeunes Naturalistes (August, 1912), 

 tells of a Blue Tit which was liberated 

 after several months of captivity. Im- 

 mediately setting forth to obtain food it 

 went straight to the rolled-up leaves of 

 a tree which contained roller caterpillars.' 

 Apparently the bird remembered expe- 

 riences gained before he was caged, and 

 the caterpillars, it would seem, in place 

 of hiding, were advertising their presence. 

 Incidentally, the story shows how little 

 need there is to fear starvation for a 

 liberated bird if its natural food is within 

 reach. 



The French Ministry of Agriculture 

 has appointed a commission for the pur- 

 pose of establishing "on a scientific 

 basis for the whole of France, a complete 

 classification of useful and harmful birds, 

 with indications of the degree of their 



