The food of birds.



229



THE FOOD OF BIRDS.*


By J. H. Gurney.


In a “ Nature Study ” exhibited at the Castle Museum,

arranged by Mr. F. Leney, the results of planting the contents of

a Partridge’s crop were shown. Nothing had come up except

harmful weeds, including bindweed ( Convolvulus), Persicaria, white

goosefoot, and annual Poa. The bird was sent up by Mr. Colman,

and had been killed near Norwich. A Partridge dissected in Scotland,

also in May, by Miss L. Florence, contained many seeds of the sorrel,

sheep’s sorrel, and spurrey ( Spergula ). These facts are commended

to the attention of farmers.


The following plants have been identified by the School of

Agriculture at Cambridge from the crops of Norfolk-killed Phea¬

sants : Ranunculus ficaria, R. acris, Taraxacum officinale, Plantago

lanceolata, Galium amarine, Galeopsis, Chenopodium album, Brachy-

podium, Silene, and Polygonum. That both Partridges and wild

Pheasants do more good than harm can hardly be questioned, but

when great quantities of tame Pheasants are reared, nature is altered

and they become destructive.


Norfolk farmers have long had a grudge against the Starling

for grubbing up the autumn-sown wheat, which it begins to do as

soon as the blade is 2 in. high, sometimes for the sake of the

germinating grain, sometimes for the wire worm or other grub to be

found at its roots ; but in either case the young corn shrivels and

turns yellow. Their diggings are from 3 to 12 in. long, or even to

24 in., and are always where the drills run. Besides these iniqui¬

ties, Starlings also take a great deal of hard corn which is put

down for tame Pheasants, both at the coops and afterwards. At

the same time we must not paint the Starling blacker than he really

is, for he eats insects, as numerous dissections have proved. The

researches of Mr. J. Hammond, Mr. W. E. Collinge, Mr. R. Newstead,

Mr. J. E. Kelso, and Miss L. Florence have established beyond

question that insects may be considered as the Starling’s staple food

for more than half the year.



Reprinted from the ‘ Zoologist.’



