Utility and Economy of Birds 



a pair of PEREGRINES had tried to breed, 

 were put out of bounds, to the advantage of 

 the PEREGRINES, which are believed to have 

 nested, and also of a small colony of ROCK- 

 DOVES, which before had been annually 

 threatened with extinction (Country Life, 2. 

 ix.i6). Towards the end of 1916 suggestions 

 appeared in the newspapers that, as there 

 were no shooting parties, soldiers should enter 

 upon preserves and estates and kill a proper 

 amount of GAME, paying the owners a fair 

 price per head for the GAME shot ; it was 

 further suggested that the GAME would be 

 very useful for food and that the shooting 

 would be most excellent practice for the 

 New Armies (Daily Mail, i8.xi.i6). Other 

 letters appeared about this time suggesting 

 all sorts of birds as valuable additions to our 

 menu, young CORMORANTS, HERRING-GULLS, 

 and GANNETS, especially the last, being 

 recommended (Daily Mail, 19.11.17). These 

 letters were devoured with avidity by our 

 enemies, and the Berlin Zeitung am Mittag, 

 quoting the " London newspapers," literally 

 ' ' gulled' ' its readers into the belief that we were 



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