88 The Food of Some British Wild Birds. 



very seriously felt in many quarters, and it is now impossible to 

 take up a paper without the probability of finding in its columns 

 letters from fruit-growers, farmers, and gardeners complaining 

 that their crops, both of fruit and grain, are destroyed wholesale by 

 hordes of small birds. 



Though this is probably the worst side to the question, and 

 that most pressingly requiring amendment, there is another side 

 that must not be forgotten. 



The great increase of certain specially vigorous species, such 

 as the rook, jackdaw, starling, and sparrow, is causing the des- 

 truction, indirectly, of other birds we can ill afford to lose. 



The increase of rooks and jackdaws has definitely changed 

 their habits, and, owing to the insufficiency of their natural food, 

 such as grubs and worms, they have ' become almost purely pre- 

 datory at certain times of the year in many places. Their wholesale 

 destruction of game birds' eggs is well known to keepers. They 

 also hunt systematically for the eggs of all ground-nesting birds 

 such as grouse and plovers ; and even the eggs of the smaller birds 

 of prey and other tree-nesting birds often fall to their share. 



The barn owl is now rarely seen in many districts where, until 

 recently, it was very common. This is probably largely owing to 

 the increased number of jackdaws, the result being that the owls 

 are disturbed and their nests robbed by these pestilent and per- 

 tinacious marauders. 



It may probably surprise many to learn that so recently as 

 about the year 1830, a well-known old sportsman was unable to 

 obtain a single specimen of a starling in the County of Northumber- 

 land, where they now exist in countless thousands, and had to send 

 into Cumberland to get one for tying trout flies. 



Again, house martins are seriously interfered with, and their 

 eggs constantly destroyed by the ever-present house sparrows, who 

 seize their nests -as soon as they are constructed, and take no denial. 



The Acts have certainly had their share in the results that 

 have arisen. Village boys no longer dare go on bird-nesting expedi- 

 tions, lest they fall into the clutches of the law. It is questionable 

 whether the consequent ignorance concerning birds amongst the 

 rising generation of country boys is altogether an advantage, and 



