228 What did we do in the great war ?


A great Society like the Avicultural has in this world-war a

part to play peculiarly its own. Formed for the express purpose of

studying British and foreign birds in freedom and captivity, both

material and opportunity are close to hand. The food question is a

pre-eminent and vital problem of any bird study. How often in the

past has one asked oneself, “ What does it eat ? ” and how often in

back numbers of this Magazine does one meet with inquiries on the

diet of birds ! The eminent specialists who answered such inquiries

have accumulated in these columns a valuable record of the best

food for practically any kind of bird, from Hummers to Ostriches.

The Society’s pathologists, again, in their post-mortem reports have

done yeoman service to applied ornithology.


The Editor, therefore, asks for more papers, letters, or notes

on the food of birds, with especial reference to agriculture : whether

they waste or safeguard the food of the nation; whether they

destroy pests or are pests themselves ; whether they should be

encouraged or discouraged ; their methods and times of feeding ;

periodical migration, whether this is complete or partial ; whether

they are simple or mixed feeders — i. e. whether wholly, partly, or

not at all insectivorous. This inquiry practically covers the field

of a regular ornithological bureau, and the results published in the

Magazine— a convenient permanent record ready to hand—should

be of great value.


Already the Editor has received some good papers on the

subject. Theses on bird food are, of course, no new feature of the

Magazine; for instance, one may mention Dr. Butler’s model paper

on living food for insectivorous birds, published in the Magazine

some years ago, and reprinted in ‘Practical Bird Keeping,’ the

book chosen by the Council to form the Society’s annual prize in

literature. In this species of war-work the Editor asks for more

and yet more papers on the food of wild birds in relation to the

crops ; it is a national department which is essentially the domain

of this Society, peculiar to aviculturists and to aviculturists alone.


“As the nation moved the king moved, leading it but not

outrunning it,” wrote Eroude of Henry VIII ; and similarly we

aviculturists have a unique opportunity of guiding and influencing

the practical application of our favourite study. G. B.



