192 BKITISH BIRDS. 



To this end they issued a number of circulars, containing a 

 series of questions, Avith a view to ascertaining the opinions of 

 Naturalists, Anglers, Fishermen, Farmers and G-amekeepers, 

 and, as a result, received sixty-two replies. 



Naturally, wide differences of opinion as to the harmf ulness, 

 or otherwise, of this bird have been brought together by this 

 means, but the result, as a whole, is emphatically in favour of 

 the bird. 



But the evidence which Messrs. Thorpe and Hope have 

 accumulated, as a result of the examination of the stomachs of 

 one hundred birds, is far more important, since most of those 

 who returned schedules had never actually made a similar 

 examinatioD, but founded their remarks on observations in the 

 field only. 



This post-mortem work has shown that, in the area under 

 investigation at any rate, the Black-headed Gull lives largely 

 Tipon earthworms, these making up no less than 42 per cent, of 

 the food examined. Of the 100 birds, 41 per cent, had been 

 feeding on the larvae of insects harmful to grass and root crops, 

 such as wire-worms, and the larvae of the " Daddy-long-legs." 



Although, as the replies sent in show, not a few people were 

 convinced that the Black-headed Gull lived largely upon fish 

 and was to be reckoned a most undesirable bird in the neighbour- 

 hood of fish- hatcheries, it has now been conclusively shown that 

 fish form but a fraction of this bird's diet. Only 9 per cent, of 

 the birds examined contained traces of fish of any kind, and in 

 this report mollusca and shell-fish appear to be included under 

 the common term "fish." 



But not the least extraordinary part of this report is the 

 decision to which the authors have come : since they suggest, in 

 spite of the fact that the Black-headed Gull is to be regarded as 

 an allv of the farmer, and is innocent of all harm whatsoever to 

 the fishing interests, that no " harm would be done to the 

 species by relaxation for a term of years of the protection now 

 given it"! The prisoner at the bar having been honourably 

 acquitted is to be j^enalized lest in future . he may deserve 

 punishment! 



Economic ornithology has been very little i>ractised in 

 England, and it is a matter which should be taken up in a very 

 thorough way by the Board of Agriculture, or some other 

 properly constituted authority. For years past this has been 

 done in the United States and, as a consequence, a vast 

 amount of valuable facts, upon which absolute reliance can be 

 placed, has been accumulated. Throughout the United States 

 Gulls are almost everywhere protected, and the same is true of 

 Canadian Provinces ; in Manitoba alone are Gulls exempted 

 from protection. 



W. P. P. 



