. MISCELLANEOUS. Jl 



of seeds, fruits, roots, and miscellaneous vegetable matter. Of the 

 animal matter 4 per cent, was wireworms, 4 per cent, of other insects 

 (mostly injurious), i per cent, millipedes, 2 per cent, earthworms, and 

 4 per cent, of a miscellaneous character, including eggs, young game, 

 field mice, etc. 



The results of this investigation, embracing a consideration of 

 the stomach contents of 830 rooks, shot throughout the year 1908-9, 

 throughout England and Wales, show : 



1. That 67.5 per cent, of the food of the rook consists of grain ; if 

 to this we add that of roots and fruits, the percentage is raised to 71 

 per cent. 



2. The animal food content was only 29 per cent., of which quite 

 one-third must be reckoned against the rook. 



3. There is ample evidence to show that with the present large 

 numbers of rooks, a grain diet is preferred. 



4. So far as the evidence of this inquiry shows, the rook is not 

 a particularly beneficial bird to the agriculturist, although its useful- 

 ness might be considerably increased were it fewer in numbers. 



In writing of the birds that injure grain in the United States of 

 America, Mr. F. E. L. Beal 1 states " If it be admitted that birds do 

 not as a rule display an inordinate appetite for grain, the question 

 naturally arises : What is the cause of the tremendous ravages they 

 sometimes commit? Both stomach examination and field observation 

 point to the same answer : Too many birds of the same or closely allied 

 species are gathered together within a limited area." 



Xo words could be more pertinent than these in respect to the 

 above mentioned inquiry, the verdict in short is we have too many 

 rooks, indeed one might go further and state that we have far too 

 many of a number of species of wild birds which are distinctly 

 destructive to cereal and root crops, game, etc. , and it is necessary 

 that they should at once be systematically reduced in number and 

 held in check. 



BULLFINCHES AND FRUIT TREES. 



Some few years ago I expressed the view that in spite of all that 

 had been said and written to the contrary, the bullfinch seriously 

 damages fruit trees in the earlier part of the year. 2 



1 Year-book of the U.S. Dept. Agric., 1897, p. 353. 

 23rd Rpt. on Inj. Insects, 1906, p. 51. 



