92 The Food of Some British Wild Birds. 



CHAPTER X. 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 



" To try and find Truth is gctin, even if we make mistakes in 

 our search." 



LlCHTENBERG. 



In the foregoing pages I have set forth in considerable detail 

 the results obtained from an examination of 3,048 post-mortems of 

 adult birds, 312 post-mortems of nest-ling birds, large quantities of 

 faeces, 191 pellets of two species, and observations made in the field, 

 extending over the past eight years. 



In all twenty-nine species have been examined (for List see p. 14), 

 of these five are distinctly injurious, viz., the house sparrow, bull- 

 finch, sparrow-hawk, wood pigeon, and stockdove; six are too 

 plentiful and consequently injurious, viz., missel thrush, blackbird, 

 greenfinch, chaffinch, starling, and rook ; one is injurious, but not 

 plentiful, viz., the blackcap; the jay I regard as neutral, and the 

 remaining sixteen as beneficial, most of them meriting protection, 

 especially the owls, the wren, and the plover. 



Numerous observations have been brought forward regarding 

 the frequency of the visits paid by the parent birds to their young, 

 whilst in the nestling stage, also as to the nature of the food of the 

 young birds. 



Details as to the weed seeds distributed by wild birds are given 

 and the results of extended examinations of the faeces, and of ex- 

 periments made with such. 



The relation of wild birds to forestry has been briefly reviewed, 

 and the subjects of legislation and bird protection dealt with. 



In conclusion, no one realises more than the author the short- 

 comings of such a work as this. The different methods of dealing 

 with and tabulating extended observations and voluminous notes 

 extending over a period of eight years, have presented many per- 

 plexing difficulties. To reduce such a series of data to a form that 

 would be concise yet lucid has often proved a difficult task, but if I 

 have at all succeeded, in more clearly defining the precise economic 

 position of the species of birds dealt with, I shall have been more 

 than repaid. 



