6 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Most people are familiar to a certain extent with the huge flocks 
of sea-birds that frequent our coasts, but how few have any idea as 
to what they feed upon ! Some are mere scavengers of the shore, 
devouring anything left by the tide ; others travel inland and feed 
upon different kinds of insect larvae ; some cause considerable damage 
on game preserves, but the diet of the majority is marine organisms, 
the bulk of which consists of fish. Very few systematic investiga- 
tions have been made upon the food of these birds, in consequence 
of which our information is meagre and often misleading. 
In a recent report of an investigation made on the Suffolk and 
Essex coasts, the committee conclude by stating " that it would be 
manifestly unfair to draw any definite conclusions from it as to the 
feeding habits of gulls in general. But since gulls have taken to 
feeding on grain the balance would appear to be against the gull ; 
and from an economic point of view we consider an exhaustive inquiry 
- is indicated in consequence of the enormous rate at which these birds 
are increasing throughout the land." 
Without thorough and exhaustive inquiry any legislation affecting 
our sea-birds, or even any wild birds, is both unscientific and likely 
to prove highly mischievous, and the longer such inquiry is deferred 
the country is the poorer by hundreds of thousands of pounds through 
its ignorance. Such an inquiry would at least indicate where our 
present course of conduct is wrong, and would possibly lead to new 
and more beneficial legislation in the future. 
The subject is one that demands constant study and inquiry, for 
a species of bird that at one period is distinctly beneficial may in a 
very few years become equally injurious. There are many cases on 
record of the change in feeding habits due in some cases to a great 
increase in the number of a particular species and a consequent scarcity 
of food. In other cases there is an abundance of a particular kind 
of food, due to artificial cultivation, and the birds have not been 
slow to avail themselves of the changed condition. Such points as 
these require very careful consideration in any attempt to rightly 
estimate the value of any particular species. 
Unfortunately, in this country we have no continued systematic 
study on a large scale in operation. Hitherto the matter has been 
left to the private individual, but what is now required is continuous 
work, judiciously planned, and carried out with every care. Such 
investigations are beyond the means of most : the labour alone of 
recording and tabulating the results obtained is no mean task. 
Government action, at the present time, scarcely seems likely, but 
it might possibly be within the range of practical politics, with some 
financial assistance from the Development Fund, to found a Chair 
of Economic Ornithology, in connexion with one of our universities, 
where such work might be carried out. Of one thing I am sure, viz., 
that it would prove of great scientific interest and of inestimable 
value to that all-important and increasing community, the food 
providers of this country. 
