258 Wild Life in Wales 



apt to be overlooked. Plovers, Thrushes, Larks, and many 

 other small birds, assist appreciably in the good work. Sir 

 Humphrey Davy first called attention to the fact that the 

 Jack Snipe is particularly fond of Leather-jackets, and his 

 observation has since been repeatedly confirmed. Common 

 Snipe are, probably, not less beneficial in their destruction 

 of grubs of many kinds, their time for feeding, at dusk and 

 in the early morning, coinciding with the periods of the 

 greatest activity of Leather-jackets above ground. An 

 examination of the contents of the crops of Pheasants has, 

 also, frequently demonstrated their usefulness, no fewer 

 than 1225 larvae having been counted in the crop of one 

 hen Pheasant killed in January. 1 The crop of a Land Rail, 

 that had been killed against the telegraph wires at Llan- 

 uwchllyn, on i8th September, contained a mass of more or 

 less recognisable matter, which was largely composed of 

 Wire- Worms, but they could not be counted with any 

 certainty. A Ring Ouzel, in June, contained upwards 

 of fifty Leather-jackets ; and a Creeper, picked up in the 

 village street, in December, and brought to me by the 

 school children, had its crop filled with small Wire-Worms, 

 to the exclusion of everything else ; but these, no doubt, 

 belonged to one of the wood-eating species, and had probably 

 been dug out of some decaying bough. 



Moles are untiring in their search after all sorts of worms, 

 and grubs, and so, also, is the common Shrew. The latter, 

 with its insectivorous tastes, and its habit of hunting on, or 

 very near, the surface of the ground, must, undoubtedly, 

 render a considerable amount of service to the agriculturist, 

 and the gardener, by the destruction of Wire- Worms, and 

 Leather-jackets, as well as the mature insects, in the hedge 

 banks, where otherwise they are almost out of reach : a 

 service for which the best reward that it can claim is to be 

 ignored. In Wales, it is still commonly regarded with 

 dislike, owing to old superstitions, concerning damage to 

 cattle, and so forth ; and almost everywhere else it is killed, 

 when seen, as " no'but a mouse ! " 



1 See Curtis' Farm Insects, where much other interesting information on 

 this and similar subjects will be found. 



