84 The Food of Some British Wild Birds. 



Writing of the common field vole Fisher (45<z) states that it * ' is 

 the greatest scourge of the agriculturist, and comes from the fields 

 into light forests, where it does enormous damage." 



A description of the damage done in 1814 by this species and 

 the long-tailed field mouse is given in Nicholls' account of the 

 Forest of Dean. They destroyed all the young oak-saplings in the 

 forest except four or five per acre, eating through the roots just 

 below the ground. The long-tailed species was found chiefly on wet 

 ground, and the vole everywhere. To exterminate these pests, 

 trenches two feet deep were dug twenty yards apart, and 100,000 

 tails were brought in for reward. The voles breed much more 

 rapidly than mice. In one species, which gives birth to eight or ten 

 young every six to eight weeks, from March till late autumn, the 

 female commences to breed when eight weeks old, and it has been 

 estimated that she may have as many as 10,000 descendants in a 

 year. 



When we call to mind the immense damage done by voles, 

 shrews, mice, etc., to agricultural crops in addition to forest trees, 

 and realise that the bulk of the food of owls consists of these 

 animals, it does indeed seem strange that birds, that should be 

 protected by very stringent laws, are so ruthlessly destroyed. 



The Long-eared Owl (Asio otus (Linn.)), and the Short-eared 

 Owl (Asio accipitrinus (Pall)), although not so common as the two 

 previously mentioned species, are equally beneficial. 



The Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus, Linn.), is another persecuted 

 bird, that confers far more good than it does harm. The greater 

 portion of its food consists of mice, beetles and their larvae. It 

 occasionally causes sad havoc amongst young pheasants, but not 

 infrequently it is blamed for the misdeeds of the Sparrow Hawk. 



Of the insectivorous birds none is of more importance to the 

 forester than the Nightjar or Goatsucker (Caprinulgus europaeus, 

 Linn.), unfortunately it is still destroyed and classed as a Hawk by 

 that large class of men known as unintelligent gamekeepers. 



Remedial and Protective Methods. 



Much can be done to prevent damage to sowings and nursery 

 seed-beds by protecting them with wire-netting or covering them 

 with branches of hawthorn. 



The provision of nesting boxes in forests for insectivorous 

 birds is becoming more and more necessary. Merely to protect 

 these birds is not sufficient : their multiplication must also be looked 

 after. 



