FEBRUARY 39 



pronounced the blackheaded gull to be harmful to the 

 fishing industry, five were doubtful on the point, twenty 

 considered it harmless, and five made no reply to this 

 question. On the other hand, there is the evidence of 

 fishery managers and inspectors to the effect that at 

 certain seasons these gulls collect in large numbers, and 

 pick the salmon smolts out of the shallows on their way 

 to the sea. My own experience amply confirms this, 

 and if ninety per cent, of British naturalists were to 

 declare that they had never seen these gulls taking 

 fish, that negative evidence would be perfectly reconcil- 

 able with the fact that other persons, with no claim to 

 the title of naturalist, had seen them, season after season, 

 pursuing salmon smolts. 



As for the staple food of this gull, the plain and only 

 answer is that there is none. Like all gulls, it is prac- 

 tically omnivorous, depending upon opportunity for the 

 nature of its diet. During the winter months it would 

 be possible to make Albert biscuits or pate de foie gras 

 the staple food of the flock frequenting the bridge in 

 St. James's Park ; but by the end of April not one of 

 these birds remains there ; all have taken flight to the 

 breeding colonies on distant moors, where the ' staple ' 

 is more precarious and less uniform. 



Nobody wants to diminish seriously the numbers of 

 these pretty birds, which certainly lend farmers a 

 helping hand ; but fishery owners and the managers of 

 fish-hatcheries ought not to be forbidden to protect 

 their own property at critical periods. The report of 

 the committee of the Cumberland County Council 

 founded upon the result of their inquiry, carried on 



