138 Birds that are Land and Water Feeders. 



Here I may point out that of the several species of gulls 

 the black-headed and the herring gull are the most common. 

 The greater and lesser black-backed gulls are admittedly birds 

 of prey. They do not come under consideration to-night, 

 because no one disputes their destructiveness inland and on 

 the sea-shore. The herring gull is, as its name implies, 

 a fish eater, but I shall show that it is also a grain 

 eater. The black-headed gull — the commonest of all (in this 

 neighbourhood at any rate) is the bird whose feeding habits 

 are the least understood, and till recently it was considered an 

 inoffensive creature living on insects, grubs, worms, etc. 

 There is every reason to believe that this was in fact the case, 

 and probably it would still be an inoffensive creature if legisla- 

 tion and the total destruction of its chief enemies had not 

 caused it to increase in numbers enormously. The simple fact 

 is that if the black-headed gull kept to what was its diet 

 thirty years ago it would starve. 



I wonder how many who are here to-night can bear me 

 out when I say that the entomological fauna of Dumfries and 

 Galloway compared with what it was twenty years ago is 

 terribly impoverished ? 



Where are the butterflies and moths? Where are the 

 larger flies that formed such valuable food for trout in our 

 rivers and streams? They have gone. Is there anywhere in 

 the South of Scotland where on a June evening one may see 

 the meadows dotted with hovering ghost-moths till their 

 numbers are almost as great as the white flowers of the dog 

 daisy? Can you tell me where you will find the thistles in 

 July the perching place of innumerable skipper butterflies? 

 Where have the fritillaries, the ringlets, the blues, the 

 coppers, the painted ladles, the red admirals, and a host of 

 other beautiful creatures gone? 



I will tell you where the ghost moth has gone, and where 

 I suspect all the others have met their end too. Watch the 

 meadows when the dew begins to fall and at daylight when 

 the mists are rising. What do you see? White forms in the 

 dusk, white forms in the mist, hovering, gliding, here, 

 everywhere; swooping swiftly, rising again, and "hawking'^ 

 every inch of ground with wonderful persistence and admir- 



