GULLS 129 



The black-headed gull is supposed to do an 

 immense amount of good when following the 

 plough by destroying wireworms and other 

 injurious insects. 



Of thirty specimens shot following the plough 

 between December 4th, 1913, and March 4th, 

 1914, the total contents were as follows : 



747 Recognisable earthworms. 



5 Beetles. 



1 Earwig. 



No wireworms. 



Food fishes were present in two birds. 



Eight per cent, contained cereals. 



These birds certainly were not helping the 

 farmer, and in heavy land where the worms are 

 useful for improving drainage they would be 

 doing harm. 



Nobody who has any experience of inland 

 streams and lakes will deny that the black- 

 headed gull damages the fishing, and in dry 

 seasons when the water is low that this damage 

 is serious. It appears to me that even when 

 feeding on the land, the good that this bird does 

 by the destruction of injurious insects is out- 

 weighed by his bad habits, and he certainly does 



not atone for the sins of the gull tribe. 



J 



