THE LITTLE GREBE 



203 



FIG. 119. THE HERON AND HERON TRAP. 



prey upon vegetation, especially in breeding time ; but their eggs, 

 also those of water-hens, are so much sought after that neither 

 increase to a prejudicial extent ; and they are. also so decimated 

 in winter by shooting, when they assemble on the banks of rivers, 

 lakes and in marshes, though they can hardly be considered good 

 eating, that riverside and marshland graziers are deprived of their 

 services. 



LITTLE GREBE or DABCHICK. This bird, and also the Crested 

 Grebe, is so limited in number as to do little harm to fisheries, 

 though neither of these birds would be tolerated in fish hatcheries 

 or rearing ponds containing small fish, but would be trapped. 



COMMON GULL. This and most gulls feed principally upon fish, 

 and in undue numbers damage the fisheries industry to a serious 

 extent ; and as their attentions to the land are mainly concentrated 



