Chapter 17. 



BENEFICIAL ANIMALS, &c. 



Birds. The Testacella Slug. Earthworms. Centipedes. Bene- 

 ficial Insects. The Isle of Wight Bee Disease. Literature bearing 

 upon Economic Zoology. 



Beneficial animals are on the whole less widely known 

 than injurious species and, unlike the latter, they should 

 be encouraged so far as may be possible and under no 

 circumstances be destroyed. BIRDS (i, 2) occupy a very 

 high place as benefactors of the farmer and horti- 

 culturalist. There are a number of kinds which cause 

 little harm, and are in many cases, directly beneficial. 

 Among these may be cited the Fieldfare, Hedge Spar- 

 row, Wrens, Long-tailed and Coal Tits, Wagtails, 

 Pipits, Swallow, Martins, Swift Cuckoo, Plover, and 

 many others. Tits, for instance, are particularly partial 

 to Scale Insects, as well as Aphides and other Insects. 

 The Willow Wren devours large numbers of various In- 

 sects, and Newstead records one whose crop was filled 

 with larvae of the Winter Moth, another with Aphides, 

 and three other individuals contained large numbers of 

 Fly Maggots. Pipits, the Cuckoo, and Swift are also 

 prominent devourers of Insect life. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, one or other species may be observed devouring 

 fruit, the Mistle Thrush, for instance, but I believe in 

 such cases the small amount of harm they cause is neglig- 

 able compared with the benefit they confer. In this 

 country much could be done along Continental lines to- 

 wards encouraging beneficial Birds, especially by means 

 of nesting-boxes, which help to ensure their presence in 



129 



