PREFACE. 



'HE nature of the food of many of our wild birds has 

 hitherto been largely guesswork, for with the exception 

 of a very few species no detailed investigations have 

 been carried out, and without these details, obtained in both 

 the field and laboratory, it is impossible to arrive at any 

 sound conclusions respecting their economic status. 



The economic importance of the subject to the agri- 

 culturist, the horticulturist, the fruit grower, and the forester, 

 and to all who take an interest in our avian fauna, does not 

 here call for any explanation. 



The conclusions arrived at in the following pages 

 have only been obtained after a considerable amount of work 

 extending over many years, during which period numerous 

 observations have been made in the field, and of the stomach 

 contents of upwards of three thousand adult birds and three 

 hundred nestlings. 



My thanks are due to many helpers, too numerous to 

 be mentioned individually, who have supplied me with 

 various species of birds, at different periods of the year, and 

 from various localities. 



Chapters VI. and VII. originally appeared in the 

 Journal of the Board of Agriculture and the Journal of the 

 Land Agents' Society respectively, and my thanks are here 

 tendered for the permission granted to use them in the 

 present work. 



WALTER E. COLLINGE. 



8, NEWHALL STREET, 



BIRMINGHAM, April, 1913. 



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