DAMAGE CAUSED BY ANIMALS. 105 



along with their small size to preclude the advisability of shoot- 

 ing them. 1 



B. BIRDS (Aves). 

 55. Damage caused ly Birds. 



The disadvantages which accrue to our woodlands through birds 

 are on the whole slight, and are certainly much more than 

 counterbalanced by the advantages gained through their destruc- 

 tion of insects injurious to the trees forming the timber crops. 

 But, at the same time, the damage occasionally done is of such a 

 nature as to render protective measures advisable. 



Among the classes of birds that may be named as injurious are 

 the following : 



The Capercaillie, Capercailzie, 2 or Cock of the wood (Tetrao uro- 

 gallus), which obtains its chief nourishment during winter and 

 spring from the buds and needles of conifers, does a good deal of 

 damage in nurseries and seed-beds, although the results are other- 

 wise hardly appreciable in the open forest. During the course of 

 the winter months one single bird can injure a very large number 

 of seedlings and young plants by pecking out the terminal buds, more 

 especially as they usually keep more or less to one feeding-place. 

 The Silver Fir seems most of all exposed to danger, for not only 

 the buds, but also the needles, are eagerly devoured by this bird. 



Black Grouse or Blackcock (Tetrao tetrix) and similar game 

 birds do comparatively little damage to woodlands, as, although 

 attacking the buds and the male catkins of Birch, Hazel, &c., they 

 feed more on berries and seeds. 



Culvers, Doves, or Pigeons, including the Cushat, Ring-dove, or 

 Wood-pigeon (Columba palumbus), the Stock-dove or Wood-dove (C. 

 wnas), and the Turtle-dove (Turtur auritus), consume a good many 

 seeds of the coniferous species, and the two larger kinds even 

 accrns and beech-nuts, so that when, during the migratory period, 

 they assemble in large numbers at the time of sowing in spring, 

 sowings made in the open run considerable risk ; but this is less 

 the case in nurseries, in which the seed-beds are generally some- 

 what protected in one way or another not applicable to extensive 

 areas. 



1 Hess, Forstschutz, vol. i., 1887, page 144, states that in Carinthia, in good beech- 

 mast years, as many as 800,000 tree-mice have been caught in one year. 



2 Now a rare bird even in Scotland. Trans. 



