13 



Captain Cox again rose, and alluded to the practice of 

 farmers strewing about grains of poisoned wheat on their 

 land, for the purpose of destroying birds, to prevent them 

 from injuring the crops. Last year he (Captain Cos) 

 brought a magpie which had been destroyed in that way, 

 in whose crop eight poisoned grains of wheat were found, 

 but also several wii'e worms and a host of small beetles, 

 and he expressed a hope that some means would be found 

 to put a stop to this nefarious and abominable practice. 

 On this occasion he had a complaint to make respecting 

 almost the same locality. He alluded to the neighbour- 

 hood of Hoath ; and the other day, when he was going to 

 the residence of Sir Walter James, he discovered the bodies 

 of several rooks which had been destroyed in that manner. 

 He did not think the farmers knew their own in- 

 terest, or they would not seek that wholesale destruc- 

 tion of birds, as they must be ignorant of their value in 

 keeping down insect life. It had been mentioned that the 

 farmers of this county sustained a loss of more than 

 £30,000 a-year by the depredations of insects ; and if the 

 means provided by nature for the purpose of keeping down 

 insect life were destroyed, then there would be such an 

 increase of insect life as to seriously jeopardise the means 

 of sustenance for the people of this country. But that 

 was not the only argument to use against the destruc- 

 tion of birds by means of pjisoned grains of wheat. 

 The poison that was sown for the destruction of rooks and 

 sparrows, &c., would be picked up by larks, and poisoned 

 larks might find their way into the market, in which case a 

 sacrifice of human life would probably result. On that 

 ground, therefore, the practice ought to be put a stop to. 



Mr. DowKEU said he coald not allow the flattering terms 

 in which Mr. Brent had alluded to his services and the ser- 

 vices of the Treasurer, to pass without acknowledgment, 

 and particularly as they had been endorsed by the approval 

 of the meeting. What little service he (Mr. Dowker) had 

 rendered to the society had been rendered most willingly 



