Utility and Economy of Birds 



hour of agony one sufferer wrote : " We do 

 not want to see in this country devastated 

 districts, such as one sees abroad, through 

 the caterpillars being allowed to go un- 

 checked and through the destruction of birds 

 for sport and profit " (Daily Mail, n-i6.vi.i8). 

 Though regretting the means, I cannot but 

 rejoice at the end which brought these sinners, 

 who would not recognise the utility of birds, 

 to repentance. 



I have purposely omitted the consideration 

 of the status of the WOOD-PIGEON, a bird 

 which may very properly be regarded as 

 most mischievous in respect to agriculture, 

 but which, I must here state in common fair- 

 ness, was reported as taking toll of the 

 caterpillars in June 1918. Its food- value is 

 certainly considerable and might almost have 

 entitled it to have been considered in the fol- 

 lowing section, but, notwithstanding the little 

 good it may do, it undoubtedly costs more 

 in the damage it does when alive than it 

 realises when killed and put on the market. 

 During the period under review battues were 

 organised in several counties and large num- 



38 



