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Gulls Destroy Insects and Mice 



It is a well-known fact that Gulls cat a 

 great many insects, but it is not generally 

 known that they will also eat mice. The 

 following letter from John E. Cox, of the Utah 

 Board of Agriculture, is of great interest: 

 " Gulls go all over the state for insects, the 

 greatest number visiting the beet fields, 

 where they keep down the crickets, grass- 

 hoppers, cutworms, etc. They took a new 

 diet this summer. Some alfalfa fields were 

 so badly honeycombed with mice holes 

 and runs that it was impossible to irrigate 

 them, and they were plowed up, mostly for 

 beet culture. When the water was turned 

 into the irrigation ditches the mice were 

 forced out of their holes, and the Gulls then 

 caught them ; they became so perfect in 

 their work that they kept abreast of the 

 head of the water and picked up every 

 mouse that appeared. When gorged with 

 victims they would vomit them up in piles 

 on the ditch bank and recommence their 

 feeding. Gulls are sacred in Utah, and are 

 so tame that oftentimes they may be caught 

 by hand as they follow the plow so closely." 

 — Wm Dutcher, Netv York City. 



How the Birds Come 



In reading the winter-feeding number 

 of Bird-Lore, I saw no mention of 

 Shore Larks, yet these birds have been 

 among our winter visitors for four years. 

 On February 21 and 22, 1902, there was 

 a heavy snow-storm, and on the morn- 

 ing of the second day I saw three Shore 

 Larks feeding among the Tree Sparrows 

 close by the house. In the driving storm 

 and bitter cold, they were crouching so 

 that they seemed almost to make nests in 

 the snow. As I stood watching them, 

 softly, like a larger flake of snow, a Snow 

 Bunting came fluttering down; and on 

 that day eleven Larks and thirty-five 

 Snow-Buntings fed on the lawn. Every 

 winter since the Larks have visited us, 

 coming earlier each season, last year 



appearing in December. Most of them 

 are Otocoris aLpestris praticola, but the 

 largest flocks, numbering fromfortj'to sixty, 

 contained also Otocoris alpestris. 



Last winter, on the 8th of February, 

 eighteen Snow Buntings were feeding on 

 the lawn; but the number increased con- 

 stantly, until, by the 24th, there must have 

 been five hundred of them. 



The fourth day of their coming they 

 brought one Lapland Longspur with them. 

 He would usually be found on the same 

 spot a few feet from the house, where a lit- 

 tle heap of corn was kept. Our house is at 

 the edge of a small village, where the farms 

 begin, and there is quite a stretch of lawn 

 free from trees. To attract the ground - 

 feeding birds, we usually keep the snow 

 cleared from a part of the lawn, and scatter 

 chaff and hay seed from the barn floor, to 

 give the appearance of bare ground ; in 

 February when the snow is deep in the 

 fields and nature's larder is nearly bare, we 

 look for Snow Buntings and larger flocks 

 of Larks. 



We have tried various kinds of grain, but 

 now use chiefly cracked corn, for the large 

 flock last winter scattering twelve or fifteen 

 quarts a day. 



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