ECONOMIC OENITHOLOGICAL COMMITTEE. 
A. E. Shipley, D.Sc., 
H. S. Leigh, 
Secretary. 
F.E.S., 
Chairman. 
Ill the autumn of 1908 a Committee of the . British Association 
for the Advancement of Science was formed, through tlie initia- 
tive of Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt, to investigate the feeding habits 
of certain birds the economic position of which affects agricul- 
tural science. 
It was decided that attention should at first be concentrated on 
three species, viz., rook, starling, and chaffinch. For some con- 
siderable time there has been much doubt and discussion regard- 
ing the economic status of these three birds, and it was felt that a 
properly organised inquiry should be conducted with a view to 
deciding- whether all or any of the three species under considera- 
tion are beneficial or injurious to agricultural and horticultural 
interests in the British Isles. 
Although the feeding habits of all three species (rook, starling, 
and chaffinch) liave been investigated, the present account con- 
cerns the rook only ; the other reports are in course of preparation 
and will, it is hoped, soon be ready for publication. 
This report is of an interim nature only, as it is impossible to 
base a reliable account of the economic status of the bird upon 
the small number of specimens which have been received up to 
the present time. It was thought, however, by the Committee 
that a report on the investigation up to its present stage of com- 
pleteness should now be published, showing (i) the nature of the 
work that has already been done concerning the problem, and 
(ii) where further help is needed before a more complete state- 
ment can be made. 
The work has been carried on at the University of Manchester 
in co-operation with the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. 
The Board recognised the importance of such an inquiry, and, 
in addition to giving some financial assistance, have been instru- 
mental in obtaining for the Committee a grant of money from the 
Development Fund. Without this help from the Board the 
work would have been seriously handicapped if it had not been 
impossible. 
Tiie following have contributed in the identification of the 
gizzard* * contents : — 
Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt, Messrs. J. Mangan, J. T. Wads- 
worth, T. G. B. Osborn, J. Bay Hardy, J. Standen, H. Mur- 
ray, and H. S. Leigh. 
* The alimentary canal of the rook has no definite crop, and the food which 
has been examined was obtained from the gizzard, and in one or two instances 
• from the gullet. 
