Report  on  Wireworm. 
131 
Earlier  in  the  season  I killed  a crow  feeding  on  some  damp  grass-land,  and 
found  about  three  dozen  Tipulce  (Daddy  long-legs)  grubs  in  its  crop.  There 
is  no  doubt  of  the  crow  or  rook  being  a valuable  friend  to  the  farmer  in  the 
spring  months.  Taking  the  seasons  round,  I am  of  the  opinion,  after  long  and 
careful  observation,  that  the  rook  does  more  good  than  harm  to  the  farmer. 
No  doubt  if  the  birds  are  allowed  to  become  too  numerous,  and  insect  food 
fails,  they  will  fall  on  the  crops  rather  heavily  ; but  the  cure  is  easy  in  that  case, 
and  in  my  experience  of  nearly  a quarter  of  a century  in  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland,  1 have  rarely  seen  it  required. 
“ Malcolm  Dunn,  Dalkeith,  N.B." 
“ Where  wireworms  abound,  the  rooks,  plovers  of  different  kinds,  par- 
tridges, and  other  birds,  feast,  and  are  the  best  friends  to  the  farmer. 
“ J.  Forrester,  Bryanston,  Bland/ord, 
“ For  Eight  Hon.  Viscount  Portman.” 
“ A good  hoeing  will  help  by  disturbing  the  wireworms  and  bringing  them 
to  the  top,  when  rooks  will  greedily  search  for  them  and  devour  them. 
“ Eobeet  L.  Pudney,  Halsted,  Essex." 
“The  remedies  I know  are  ploughing  in  of  mustard,  deep  winter  ploughing, 
and  repeated  stirrings  of  the  land ; but  the  best  remedy  is  one  that  nature  has 
given  us  in  the  assistance  of  the  rooks  and  starlings.  I strictly  preserve 
birds,  and  now  I have  no  wireworm. 
“ C.  E.  Colville,  Lullingion,  Burton-on-Trent." 
“ Many  wireworms  will  be  found  early  in  the  morning,  say  about  4 o’clock  ; 
and  crows  are  most  serviceable  in  picking  up  these  larval,  especially  in  the 
mornings,  when  they  will  be  found  working  hard  in  infected  fields. 
“ Bob.  Coupar,  Scone,  N.B." 
“If  we  go  to  the  fields  at  daybreak  at  the  beginning  of  May,  we  may 
observe  the  rooks  beating  singly  over  every  yard  of  ground.  These  rooks 
are  providing  for  their  young ; and  if  the  pouch  of  these  birds  is  opened,  it 
will  be  found  to  contain  a dozen  sprouted  barleycorns,  a few  dead  dry  earth- 
worms, and  upwards  of  thirty  click  beetles,  soft  and  pulpy,  which  struggled 
up  during  the  previous  night  from  their  chrysalids  a few  inches  below  the 
ground.  After  six  o’clock  a.m.,  the  time  when  the  horses  go  out  to  work,  a 
stream  of  rooks  may  be  seen  coming  and  going,  eagerly  picking  up  wireworms 
and  grubs  in  the  furrows  behind  the  ploughs.  Each  rook  does  not  take  fewer 
than  fifty  wireworms  during  the  day  of  eight  hours,  whilst  the  horses  are  at 
work ; and  later  on  (at  the  dusk  hour),  if  the  pouch  of  the  latest  rook  flying 
home  be  examined,  it  will  be  found  to  be  filled  with  beetles,  caterpillars,  and 
a little  corn.* 
“ Balph  Lowe,  Sleaford,  Lincolnshire." 
“ Books  will  soon  tell  you  where  wireworms  are.  I have  often  seen  acres 
entirely  cleared  of  good  strong  plants  of  roots,  by  being  pulled  up  by  the  rook 
in  search  of  his  favourite  food.  Nothing  requires  greater  attention  on  the 
farm  than  keeping  rooks  off  the  roots  when  first  singled  out,  where  there  is 
wireworm  among  them,  as  the  cure  is  often  worse  than  the  disease. 
“ T.  E.  Hulbert,  North  Cerney." 
* The  observation  as  to  the  pouch  of  the  rook  being  filled  with  beetles  as  it 
flies  home  at  “ the  dusk  hour  ” is  particularly  deserving  of  attention,  as  it  is  not 
generally  known  that  the  click-beetle  may  then  be  found  in  considerable  numbers 
on  the  grass. — E.  A.  O. 
