8814 



Birds. 



the newly-sown barley-fields. In May and June I saw flocks feeding among the 

 grasses. About the 20th of July I noticed tbem alighting on the fields of growing 

 barley and wheat. I have examined a great many young of different ages, and, 

 though I have found insects in their crops and gizzards, I have always found vege- 

 table matters and sand. From what T have remarked I think the young are fed 

 pretty largely on insects half the time they remain in the nest, that is, about a week ; 

 yet I have found young, not one-third fledged, whose crops contained nothing but 

 wheat. I have found sand, or rather little angular bits of stoue, in the gizzards of 

 naked sparrows. Were very young sparrows fed entirely on insects, I imagine they 

 would not need sand. Naturalists have been unanimous in charging farmers with the 

 destruction of small birds ; but I am not aware that the farmers about here have ever 

 destroyed, or encouraged the destruction of, any small birds but sparrows. Poisoned 

 seed is not used. It may be remarked, however, that the practice of sowing poisoned 

 grain, though very dangerous and quite reprehensible, would never materially lessen 

 the numbers of the small insectivorous birds, those that are of the most use in the 

 field and garden, for they seldom, if ever, touch grain. It almost seems to me that 

 the farmers have as much reason to complain of the naturalists as the naturalists have 

 to complain of the farmers; for hundreds, perhaps I may say thousands, of insecti- 

 vorous birds and their eggs are destroyed annually by naturalists, or so-called natu- 

 ralists. Every rare bird is shot as soon as it alights on our shores. Many are proud 

 to read of the capture of a rare bird, but nothing gives me greater pleasure than to 

 hear of one having escaped the gun. Were certain of those birds allowed to establish 

 themselves and multiply, they might have peculiar tastes, and rid us of insects, such 

 as the larva of the gooseberry sawfly, which is disliked by our common birds, and 

 thus be of the greatest service to the farmer and gardener. Ornithology would also be 

 greatly benefitted ; the habits of those birds could be studied more readily and more ad- 

 vantageously. I take it to be one of the grand duties of naturalists to point out which 

 birds should be encouraged and protected, and to what extent ; certain insectivorous 

 birds might facilitate the increase of herbivorous insects by preying on carnivorous 

 tribes, and thus be actually hurtful. — G. Roberts ; Lofthouse, Wakefield, September 21. 



Food of Small Birds. — I have read with much interest the article on the " Food 

 of Small Birds" (Zool. 8760). It contains much valuable information, but still it is 

 not " the whole truth." It may be that with all species the balance of the work they 

 do is for our benefit. But there is no denying that some kinds, rooks and sparrows in 

 particular, will do an amount of damage to the farmer that it is difficult to estimate. 

 This is entirely ignored by the article before us. Very soon after the grain is formed 

 in the wheat-ear the sparrow may be seen busy pecking it out, and frequently by the 

 side of a thick hedge or copse, before the corn is ripe, a long strip several yards wide 

 will be nothing but straw. In a dry season like the past summer, about a fortnight 

 before the wheat was fit to cut, the rooks would select a piece bounded by ploughed 

 land (without an intervening hedge), fly up to the standing corn, bite off the whole 

 ear at its base,*arry it into the ploughed land, and there quietly enjoy it. I had two 

 pieces like this, in which two long strips, about three hundred yards by one yard, were 

 completely destroyed ; and the rooks would not be deterred by scarecrows of dead 

 brethren, nor by the gun. Then, again, they will often settle on the shocks, and serve 

 them in a similar manner. And when a field of corn is much laid they will some- 

 times take advantage of it. No stomach analyses will convince the practical farmer 

 that they do not do him pounds' worth of actual damage, though, as I said before, the 



