38 BIRDS BENEFICIAL AND BIRDS BANEFUL 



'Do not pull up your stockings in a melon field,' 

 runs a Chinese proverb, ' or you will be accounted a 

 thief.' Here all appearances were against the owl : the 

 young pigeons were disappearing every night : the owl 

 entered their dwelling every evening at dusk: she 

 was shot, apparently flagrante delicto, and nothing 

 short of her death could have proved that she was 

 after the rats which had been devouring the young 

 pigeons. 



An assize has been sitting lately upon the character 

 of the blackheaded gull (Larus ridibundus). The 

 General Purposes Committee of the Cumberland 

 County Council caused the following questions to be 

 addressed to farmers and fishermen within the limits of 

 their jurisdiction and to naturalists throughout the 

 United Kingdom : 



' 1. Do you consider the Blackheaded Gull harmful to the 

 fishing or farming industries 1 State reasons. 



2. Have you ever examined the gullet and stomach of this 

 gull 1 If so, what were its contents 1 



3. What, in your opinion, is the staple food of this 



guiir 



These questions were sent out in 100 circular letters, 

 and the answers received showed a preponderance of 

 opinion in favour of the gull, especially in regard to the 

 farming interest. Nevertheless, the direct testimony 

 of persons in a position to speak with knowledge as to 

 the depredation committed by these birds upon the 

 young of salmon and trout cannot be set aside. Of the 

 thirty-four naturalists who replied to the circular, four 



