Birds. 561 



On the application of Ornithology to Agriculture. It is a well-known fact that cul- 

 tivation and the habitations of man are attractive to many wild animals, whether from 

 a sense of security afforded by his presence, or from the motive of partaking of the 

 fruits of his labours. The latter is probably the most general inducement, as most of 

 the animals which affect his society contrive to come in for a share of the produce, ei- 

 ther of his field or his garden. In this country, where wild quadrupeds are now com- 

 paratively rare, it is the feathered tribes which are chiefly injurious to the agriculturist, 

 and a knowledge of their habits and food must therefore principally interest him. A 

 humane and intelligent farmer will wish to inform himself of the species he should en- 

 courage and protect, and of those he should persecute and drive from his fields. This 

 information Ornithology supplies, and it is undoubtedly one of its most useful depart- 

 ments. Ornithology acquaints us with the different habits and food of the various 

 birds which frequent our cultivated fields, hedgerows and plantations, and thus ena- 

 bles us to judge of their usefulness or hurtfulness. In estimating the damage done to 

 the farmer by any particular species, we should also in justice take into account the 

 good done by it in the destruction of insects, whose ravages might have devastated 

 whole fields, or of noxious weeds, which might have choked or rendered useless the 

 growing crops. Exactly to ascertain the good and evil, and to find on which side the ba- 

 lance stands, is by no means an easy task. A series of observations, at all seasons, in dif- 

 ferent situations, and extending over many years, would be requisite to enable us to form 

 a correct opinion on the subject, and decidedly to set down any species as "injurious" or 

 "useful." Take for example the ringdove, which is generally reckoned one of the most 

 injurious birds the farmer has to deal with. I once shot a bird of this species, in the 

 crop of which were upwards of eight hundred distinct joints of the pod of the wild ra- 

 dish, a very noxious weed, each containing a seed. The ringdove is also known to eat 

 the leaves of the same plant, the roots of Potentilla anserina, and the seeds of various 

 other weeds, as Cerastium viscosum, chickweed, Ranunculi, ivy-leaved speedwell, &c. 

 The qu&stio vexata of the usefulness or hurtfulness of the rook to the farmer, is another 

 instance of our want of precise information as to the habits and food of birds. It is, 

 however, sufficient for all practical purposes, that we should be aware of the general 

 character of each species, without descending to minute particulars, which might per- 

 haps cause confusion and error, without a corresponding degree of accuracy in our 

 knowledge. This general acquaintance with the subject is now perhaps pretty well 

 attained, but it is always interesting to accumulate new facts, and I would call upon 

 the supporters of 'The Zoologist' to record in its pages such facts tending to elucidate 

 the habits of the birds more especially connected with Agriculture, as may from time 

 to time fall under their observation. — Archibald Jerdon ; Bonjedward. 



Note on the dispersion of Seeds by the agency of Birds. Mr. Briggs having in the 

 February No. (Zool. 442), introduced the subject of the dissemination of trees and 

 plants by birds, I beg to contribute a few observations thereon, not in the spirit of 

 controversy, but with an anxious desire to elicit the truth. Macgillivray, in the 2nd 

 vol. of his 'British Birds,' pp. 104 and 125, altogether discredits the notion that plants 

 are ever disseminated by means of birds ; and contends that it is impossible for seeds 

 to escape the action of the stomach, at least in the berry- and seed-eating species. As 

 1 have paid some attention to the subject, I may perhaps be allowed to state my opin- 

 ions, although differing both from Mr. Briggs and Mr. Macgillivray. It appears to 

 me that in general seeds devoured by birds are comminuted and destroyed in their 

 passage through the stomach ; indeed, were they not so, they could not yield nourish- 



