8o The Food of Some British Wild Birds. 



' ' Little is known of the distribution of fruit seeds by crows 

 during migration, but it is certain that they do this work effectively 

 while they fly to and from the roosts where they congregate in 

 winter, for their feeding grounds often cover an area stretching 

 out on all sides from the roost for fifty miles or more." 



The same writer records visiting in February, 1901, a crow 

 dormitory, in which probably 100,000 birds slept e\rery winter 

 night. He found strewn on the ground the disgorged pellets which 

 contained the seeds of poison ivy, poison sumac, and other sumacs, 

 smilax, cedar, sour gum, and flowering dogwood. 



On March 27th, 1901, a two hours' search was made beneath a 

 large black walnut tree, remote from other woody vegetation. In 

 all 172 fruit seeds were found, including mulberry, cultivated 

 cherry, wild black cherry, wild grape, woodbine, pokeberry, cedar, 

 sassafras, blackberry, and sumac. 



Numerous other cases might be cited, but it will suffice to 

 record one instance that came under my own observation a short 

 time ago. A number of sycamore seedlings were noticed in a newly- 

 made garden enclosed by a high fence, and as the nearest trees of 

 that species were nearly a mile away, it was concluded ftiat the 

 seeds had been washed off the fence, by the rain, from some bird 

 droppings. In order to settle the matter I carefully collected a 

 large supply of droppings from the fence and placed the same in 

 sterilised soil. The following plants were grown : Sycamore 

 (Acer pseudo-platan-us} , ribwort-plantain (Plantago lanceolata, 

 Linn.), mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium triviale, Linn.), broad- 

 leaved dock (Rumex obtusifolius, Linn.), groundsel (Senecio vul- 

 garis, Linn.), and charlock (Sinaspis arve?isis, Linn.). 



Although many writers hold the opinion that seed-eating birds 

 are as a class beneficial, I cannot regard them as such, for, to a 

 much Larger extent than is generally supposed, they act as distribu- 

 ters of the seeds of weeds. Mason (89) believes that in India birds 

 which eat weed-seeds are of no value whatever and observes that : 

 "they may keep weeds down to a certain extent, but this is of 

 minor importance in a country where labour is cheap and where 

 farming is not practised on such intensive lines as elsewhere. Even 

 in intensive cultivation we cannot rely on weeds being kept down 

 by birds, and the expense of cultivation to eliminate weeds is, I 

 believe, not reduced in the slightest by the action of birds. We 

 cannot expect the complete elimination of any one of the commoner 

 weeds by the agency of birds alone. If any species of bird fed 

 almost entirely on one species of weed and there seemed to be every 

 possibility of that weed being eliminated, the bird, finding its food 

 supply diminishing, would migrate." 



