MR. J. HAMMOND ON FOOD OF BIRDS. 
317 
with a collection of field notes concerning them. The 
majority of these birds came from Norfolk, the remainder 
from Essex and Cambridgeshire, and my thanks are due to 
many members of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ 
Society and others, who sent birds, and especially to Mr. 
J. A. Christie, who sent me a large number. 
The stomach contents, after being sorted out, were divided 
up, with reference to Agriculture, into three main divisions — - 
benefits, injuries, and neutral — and the two former sub- 
divided into vegetable and animal matter. The materials 
were then gummed on large sheets of cardboard and the 
number of each article counted. 
Investigations on the food of birds have not been very 
numerous in this country. As far as I have been able to 
find out, the first was made by Gurney and Russell 1 , who, in 
1885, published an account of the dissections of Sparrows’ 
(Passer domesticns) crops taken at all times of the year; their 
conclusion was that the bird was distinctly injurious. In 
1896, Gilmour 2 published an account of the dissections of 
Wood Pigeons ( Columba palumbus ), which he found to be very 
injurious; Rooks (Corvus frugilegus), which he found to be 
harmful ; and Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) which he concluded 
were beneficial ; these birds were all obtained from one estate 
in Fifeshire. Thorpe and Hope 3 , in 1907, in a report on the 
food of the Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus), gave the 
result of their investigations, which showed that from the 
farmer’s point of view the bird was beneficial. In 1909, 
Newstead 4 published the result of an investigation of the 
stomach contents of a number of species ; these were 
1. Gurney, J. H., and Russell, C. A book on the House Sparrow. 
London, 1885. 
2. Gilmour, Sir J. Trans. High, and Agri. Soc. of Scotland, 1896. 
3. Thorpe, L. D. and Hope, L. E. Report to Cumberland C.C., 
1907. 
4. Newstead, R. Supp. to the Journal of the Board of Agricul- 
ture and Fisheries, 1908-9. 
VOL. IX. 
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