THE FOOD OF SOME BRITISH BIRDS. 



Robert Newstead, M.Sc, A.L.S., etc. 



School of Tropical Medicine, The University, Liverpool. 



The records of the materials upon which this memoir has 

 been largely built are based upon 871 post-mortem examinations 

 of the stomach contents and the " pellets " or " castings " 

 of 128 species of British birds. In the case of the Starling 

 and a few other birds, these have been supplemented by a 

 number of definite observations made in the field, which brings 

 up the total to considerably over 1,100 records. From an 

 entomological standpoint these records are, it is believed, the 

 most extensive that have yet been compiled in this country, 

 and as such should form a valuable contribution to our know- 

 ledge of the food of British birds, especially in relation to 

 agriculture and horticulture. 



In the majority of cases the material was collected in the 

 county of Chester, so that the details concerning the dietary 

 of the birds must be considered as more or less of a local 

 character ; but how far local conditions may modify the food 

 of our British birds it is impossible to say, as our knowledge of 

 the subject is at present very meagre. It is to be regretted 

 that in many instances the records of the food contents of the 

 stomachs of a great number of the birds dealt with in this 

 work are so few in number, often limited to one or two. With 

 the rarer birds this was naturally unavoidable, and rightly so ; 

 but the series of records of some of the commoner birds might, 

 with very little trouble, have been greatly extended, especially 

 in regard to the grain and seed eating species. In many 

 instances, too, there is a great or almost total absence of spring 

 and summer records. Taken in the aggregate, however, these 

 records show clearly what an important part the majority of 

 our British birds play in checking the increase and lessening the 

 ravages of many of the pests of the garden and field. 



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