76 



Bird Notes and News 



numbers of voles, which at times become 

 such a plague on the sheep grazings ? 



" In the park round my house there is a 

 good deal of coarse grass that at times 

 harbours a considerable quantity of these 

 mice, and in such seasons I have often 

 watched Herons destroying them." 



THE CASE FOR THE GULL. 



The inclination displayed by certain 

 County Councils to remove protection 

 from the Gull on evidence that is at least 

 doubtful, has elicited a useful pronounce- 

 ment from Professor Landsborough 

 Thomson (Aberdeen Free Press, January 

 25th, 1913) which forms an interesting 

 sequel to the letters which have appeared 

 in Bird Notes and News (pp. 19, 38). 



" In the first place, two main points of 

 criticism appear to be applicable to the 

 information on which the case against 

 certain birds is founded. It is, for one thing, 

 derived from the observations of persons 

 vitally interested in angling and fishing, and 

 therefore prone to condemn on suspicion. 

 But we would point out that birds which 

 haunt rivers and estuaries may feed on 

 many other things than fish, and that even 

 when a bird is proved to eat fish the case is 

 not complete until the rest of its diet has 

 been considered ; it may then be found that 

 it eats many thousands of insects very 

 harmful to agriculture for every time it 

 touches fish. Secondly, we complain that 

 the demand for war on ' all gulls ' is alto- 

 gether unreasonable, because by its very 

 wording it ignores the great differences in 

 feeding habits that exist between the various 

 species." 



For " anghng and fishing " read " farm 

 ing and gardening " and for " rivers and 

 estuaries " and " fish," read " fields and 

 gardens " and " grain " or " fruit," and 

 Professor Thomson's argument is equaU}^ 

 applicable to a score of persecuted land 

 birds. He continues : — 



"It is now generally recognised that it 

 was ignorance and folly which led to the 



war by game-preservers on the vermin-eating 

 kestrel and owl on a strength of resemblance 

 to other really harmful species and of 

 possible occasional ' lapses from virtue ' on 

 the part of the useful birds in question." 



Passing on to consider the several Gulls 

 separately, Professor Thomson comes to 

 the conclusion reached years ago by the 

 late Mr. Howard Saunders in his leaflet 

 on " GuUs," written for the R.S.P.B. ; 

 that Herring GuU and Common GuU are 

 omnivorous, and require no special pro- 

 tection, at any rate in Aberdeenshire ; 

 that the Black-backed, though destruc- 

 tive, are not numerous ; and that the 

 most common species, the familiar Black- 

 headed, " deserves protection owing to the 

 immense number of agricultural pests 

 which it has been proved to eat. It does 

 a little harm to fisheries and will some- 

 times eat uncovered grain. There seems 

 no ground for the fear of an undue increase 

 or a change of habits." With reference 

 to the enquiry instituted by the Cum- 

 berland County Council in 1907, and the 

 examinations conducted by Mr. New- 

 stead and Miss Florence, aU of which 

 show this bird's value to agriculturists. 

 Professor Thomson says : — 



"It is unfortunate that so much mis- 

 understanding has been caused by the 

 Cumberland Council acting on a recommenda- 

 tion contrary to the facts of the report and 

 removing protection from the species lest 

 it should become commoner and change its 

 habits ! This ridiculous decision has, in 

 spite of almost universal condemnation, had 

 an influence on other county authorities. 

 We might also point out the absolute worth- 

 lessness of such arguments as that a Black- 

 headed Gull in captivity will live wholly on 

 fish or will eat so many at a meal ; the fact 

 that matters is that the wild birds live 

 mainly on insects and worms. A small loch 

 in a neighbouring county is well stocked 

 with fish ; on it nest some thousands of 

 these gulls, and the proprietor is satisfied 

 that they have no harmful effect on the 

 value of his fishing." 



