JOUKNAI. OF TIIK Wll.n RIRP IW'KSTK iATION" SOCIFTV. 



25 



WILD BIRDS: THEIR RELATION TO THE FARM AND THE FARMER. 

 Hv WALTER E. COLLINGE, D.Sc, F.L.S., M.B.O.U. 



The University, St. Aiulretts. 



Ii can scarcely lia\e escaped observation 

 thai during tlie past (i\-e or six vears, 

 tiiroughout tile wliole of tlie country, tliere 

 lias been an alnindance of insect life that has 

 not been surpassed for a considerable period. 

 Farmers and others have been loud in their 

 complaints of the manv species which have 

 attacked their crops and depri\-ed tiiem of a 

 considerable percentage of the yield. 



During this same period there is ample 

 evidence to show that, with one or two excep- 

 tions, there has been a marked diminution in 

 the number of our wild birds. We need not 

 now enter into the \arious causes which have 

 tended to bring about this disastrous situa- 

 tion, but that we have fewer insectivorous 

 birds to-day, there is abundant proof. 



These two facts are patent to all who have 

 followed the reports in the dailv press and our 

 agricultural and ornithological journals, and 

 the question naturallv arises whether or not 

 the former condition is not largelv due to the 

 latter one, in other words, whether the dearth 

 of insect-eating birds has not permitted manv 

 species of injurious insects to increase to such 

 an extent as to become plagues. 



The inter-relationship existing between 

 wild bird life and insects is an exceedingh' 

 important subject, and one that as vet we 

 know far too Httle about, but a studv of the 

 subject extending over many years warrants 

 us in stating that where\er the insectivorous 

 birds of a district or of districts are destroyed, 

 either purposely or through climatic .and other 

 causes, there is an accompanying insect oscil- 

 lation which is not reduced until the balance 

 of liird life is restored. Moreover, in the 

 case of certain insects whose numbers remain 

 relati\ely constant the controlling influence is 

 largely, if not <'ntirely, due to the uniformity 

 of the hinl life from vear to vear. 



Any factor therefore that tends to modify or 

 upset the restraining influences of wild birds 

 in their relationship to injurious insects is 

 distinctly detrimental to the farm and farmer. 



This fact is fully borne out by the careful 

 and intensi\e investigations that have been 

 made in countries possessing great agricul- 

 tural interests, although the subject is one 

 that has been largely neglected in this 

 counlrv. 



It can scarcely be expected that farmers 

 should indi^•idually make themselves ac- 

 C(uaintcd with the feeding habits of our 

 commoner species of wild birds, but it does 

 seem strange that the results which havebeen 

 obtained by many years of careful investiga- 

 tion should largely remain unknown to them. 

 The problem of wild bird preservation and 

 destruction is no new one, and to-day, in 

 most ci\ilised countries, there are carefully 

 prei^ared laws governing the preservation 

 and destruction of the ^'arious species found 

 therein. Further, in not a few of these 

 countries the State, by maintaining a scien- 

 tilic staff in its Department of Agriculture 

 and .Stale Ornithologists, has been able to 

 materially add to our knowledge as to the 

 economic status of the different species, and 

 has collected \aluable statistics which have 

 been published and distributed broadcast 

 'among the farming communit\-, with con- 

 siderable benefit to both the cultivator and the 

 nation in general. I'nfortunalelv, we have 

 no such organization in this countrx'. 



Recent work has shown that it is possible to 

 fix with great accuracy the economic .status 

 thai any species of wild bird holds, .so that 

 we are able to say of a particular species : 

 Ii is fairly plentiful, increasing or decreasing 

 in mimbers, that the total consumption of the 

 food of a single bird averages such and such 



[J.W.B.I.S., Marcli. 1920, vol. i. .No. 2.] 



