i6 



in this respect fixed. This is rendered all the more difficult 

 as there are so few post-mortem records of some of the commoner 

 species. However this may be, one can, fortunately, fall back 

 upon a long practical experience in the field and garden, so 

 that a classification of a more or less definite nature can be given, 

 though the vagaries of birds are so great that it may be found 

 necessary, from time to time, to modify slightly the grouping of 

 the birds which are here included under the following heads : — 



(1) Species which are wholly innoxious and more or less strictly 

 beneficial. — Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, Ring Ouzel, Wheatear, 

 Stonechat and Whinchat, Hedge Sparrow or Accentor, Red- 

 start, Whitethroats, Blackcap, Wrens, Warblers, Long-tailed, 

 Coal and Marsh Tits, Nuthatch, Tree Creeper, Wagtails, Pipits, 

 Shrikes, Flycatchers, Swallow, Martins, Swift, Goldfinch, 

 Lesser Redpoll, Reed Bunting, Night-jar or Goatsucker, 

 Hoopoe, Cuckoo, Rails, Crakes, Moorhen, Coot, Plovers (in- 

 cluding the Lapwing), Sandpipers, Woodcock, Snipes, Curlew, 

 and Whimbrel. x\dditional species might be added to this 

 list, such as all the rarer migrants : Bittern, Crane, 

 Nightingale, all the surface feeding Ducks, Geese, Quail, &c. 

 The majority of these are entirely beneficial, and collectively 

 their influence upon cultivated crops cannot be over-estimated. 

 With the purely aquatic or littoral species we may gather that 

 they also destroy seeds, insects, molluscs, and worms, so that 

 as far as they affect agriculture they do so beneficially, and 

 this must be taken into account in all districts where the marsh 

 lands extend to the sea and are used for grazing purposes, as in 

 Cheshire and elsewhere. 



(2) Species which are occasionally injurious but with the 

 balance of utility very largely in their favour. — Robin, Linnet, 

 Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting, Skylark, Starling, Wood- 

 peckers, Barn, Tawney and Short-eared Owl, Kestrel, Heron 

 and Black-headed Gull (included also under 3). 



The Hawfinch may eventually come under this heading, 

 though we need proof of its utility as an insect destroyer during 

 the nesting season. 



(3) Species which act as scavangers in the estuaries though 

 at all times destructive to young fish. — Herring Gull, Lesser 

 Black-backed Gull, Black-headed Gull and other members of 

 this family. 



