BIRD PESTS OF THE FARM. 377 



It is only by estimating closely the cost of the depredations 

 of the birds I have mentioned, and adding thereto the expense of 

 the bird-herds trying to scare them, that a farmer comes to have 

 any precise idea of the loss he sustains. I have been trying to 

 make these estimates for a few years, and my evidence is as 

 follows : — Altogether I farm 700 acres of arable land in rotation. 

 My costs and losses in connection with these birds amount 

 annually to about £200; but, again, to avoid all contention, 

 I will call it £150 per annum, and £150 on 700 acres is about 

 4s. 6d. per acre. As closely as I can reckon, the proportions of 

 damage by the different kinds of birds were five-eighths by Books, 

 two-eighths by Sparrows, and one-eighth by Wood Pigeons. I do 

 not, however, say that every cultivator in the country suffers as 

 much; but even, on the average, if the general losses are half, — 

 viz. 2s. 3d. per acre, — they are about as much as the whole of 

 the local rates paid for poor, schools, highways, and police, and 

 all from a cause which might easily be removed by those directly 

 interested. What a fuss ratepayers make about an addition of 

 one penny to the income-tax or local rates, but here it is not 

 pennies but shillings. Indeed I am convinced that these birds 

 have had as much off the land for the last few years as has 

 remained for profit to the men who farm it; for who amongst 

 farmers has made more annual profit than 2s. 3d. per acre on 

 the arable area occupied by him ? 



The thinning of Rooks appeai-s to me easy of accomplishment, 

 Sparrows not quite so easy, and Wood Pigeons more difficult, as 

 the latter only breed in small numbers in this county. 



I expect the majority, if not all those who are in the best 

 position to form an opinion, — viz. landlords, tenants, game- 

 keepers, and shepherds, — can corroborate me in what I have 

 written ; but I submit that much weight should not be attached 

 to theories which may be advanced by those who are not directly 

 interested, or who have not had an opportunity of getting 

 instructed in natural science by practical observation. 



Commenting upon this article, which we have abridged from 

 a local newspaper, Mr. R. J. Graham Simmonds (Land Agent to 

 Sir John Haggerston, Bart.) remarks that " It should open the 

 eyes both of agriculturists and preservers of game to the mischief 



ZOOLOGIST. OCTOBER, 1888. 2 G 



