316 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Of many fish-eating birds, such as the Kingfisher, Auks, 

 and so on, he gives no particulars as to the kind of fish eaten, 

 apparently because their remains were too fragmentary to 

 make identification possible. But this is not necessarily so, 

 for most, if not all, of these fish could have been identified by 

 means of the " otoliths," or ear-bones. 



Of some other birds his findings are curiously interesting. 

 Thus an analysis of the stomachs of four Common Snipe 

 yielded seeds, grass, fragments of beetles, and small land 

 shells ! while five Jack Snipe gave similar results. The only 

 Woodcock examined contained an earwig, a beetle, and a 

 little sand ! 



Of the Black-headed Gull we are glad to note he remarks : — 

 " Fortunately the birds were, and are still, strictly protected 

 in this area (Chester)." And this because, among other 

 things, it devours enormous numbers of crane-flies, and their 

 larvae — " leather jackets." During the plague of these insects, 

 which devastated the Dee Marshes in 1901, these Gulls 

 gathered in hundreds to the feast, and gorged themselves so 

 completely that the pellets, or castings, thrown up were left 

 scattered over the land, " looking like little bundles of dead 

 grass " ! 



Mr. Newstead is to be congratulated on his work, which, so 

 far as it goes, is excellent ; but what is wanted is an exhaustive 

 analysis of a larger number of the commoner species of our 

 native birds continued through every month of the year, 

 including the nesting season, for our knowledge of the food 

 of nesting birds is peculiarly meagre. And this work, to be 

 convincing, must be carried on by experts, and with scrupulous 

 accuracy and attention to details. Results obtained at hap- 

 hazard, and from a single example of any given species, are 

 practically useless. — W.P.P. 



