510 



every fruit-giowing district ; Ardor nis chrysorrhoea, L. {Porlhesia similis) 

 (gold-tail moth), common on apples in Cheshire ; Scotosia dubitata, L., 

 recorded as attacking apples ; Sphinx {Smermtlms) ocellatus, L. 

 (eyed hawk rnoth), the larvae doing considerable damage to apple 

 trees ; Gastropacha {Lasiocmnpa) quercifoUa, L. (lappet moth), very 

 prevalent on plum trees in Kent and Worcester ; Cydia {Opadia) 

 funebrana, Tr., causing much damage to plum fruit in Kent ; Cydia 

 pomonella (codhng moth), causing much loss in apples in the south- 

 east and eastern counties ; and Oxygrapha (Acalla) comariana, Z. 

 (strawberry tortrix), responsible for much damage to the strawberry 

 crop in the Wisbech area. 



Hymenoptera. Emphytus sp., found attacking apples in Kent ; 

 Fenusa jncmilis, Htg., damaging logan-berries and laxton-berrie« in 

 Kent ; Eriocampoides {Eriocampa) Iwiacina, L., abimdant on pear in 

 the eastern counties ; Pteromts (Nematus) ribesii, Scop, (gooseberry 

 saw-fly), causing considerable damage- by its general attacks ; and 

 Hoplocampn testndinea, Htg., recorded as spoiling much of the apple 

 crop near Pershore. 



CoLLiNGE (W. E.). Some Recent Investigations on the Food of Certain 

 Wild Birds. — Jl. Bd. Agric. London, xxv, no. 6, September 1918, 

 pp. 668-691, 17 figs. 



The relationship between the feeding habits of wild birds and agri- 

 culture is as yet only very imperfectly realised, the value of many 

 of the earlier contributions to the subject being seriously minimised 

 owing to the methods employed in estimating the food-contents of 

 the crop and stomach. Economically considered, birds are simply 

 natural forces, the best economic conditions probably being fulfilled 

 when they are numerous as species and moderately abundant as 

 individuals. 



As the result of an examination of the stomach (and crop, where 

 present) contents of 3,670 adult birds and 595 nesthngs, embracing 

 9 species of wild birds, it may be stated : (1) that the volumetric 

 method (or percentage by bulk) is the only reliable one for estimating 

 the nature of the food and the true economic position of a given bird ; 



(2) that the numerical method is highly misleading and unsatisfactory; 



(3) that of the 9 species of wild birds treated, two are distinctly injurious 

 viz., the house sparrow and the wood pigeon ; two are too numerous, 

 and consequently injurious, viz., the rook and the sparrow hawk ; 

 one is locally too numerous, viz., the missel thrush ; four are highly 

 beneficial, viz., the skj--lark, the green woodpecker, the kestrel and 

 the lapwing ; (4) that in the interests of agriculture it is very desirable 

 that strong repressive measures be taken against the house- sparrow 

 and the wood-pigeon, and for the time being, all protection withheld 

 from the rook, sparrow-hawk and missel thrush, while every protection 

 should be given to the four highly beneficial species above mentioned ; 

 (5) that all the commoner species of wild birds require re-investigating 

 so far as their food and feeding habits are concerned, and that their 

 various food items require working out and estimating by the volumetric 

 method. 



