38 
Report on the Food Found in 
16. The Laminated Close Shell ( Clausilia ( Marpessa ) lami- 
nata. Montagu). 
Occasional specimens were found in the starlings. The 
species usually occurs on the trunks and at the roots of 
trees, especially beech and ash, but is also found in woods 
amongst dead leaves and on mossy rocks. 
17. Clausilia (Pirostoma) bidentata, Strom. 
A few specimens only were found. 
18. The Wood Snail ( Helix nemoralis, Linn.) 
A single young specimen only was found. 
19. The Periwinkle ( Littorina litorcza, Linn.) 
This common marine mollusc was found in a bird shot 
at Wye, together with seaweed and a small crab’s leg. 
Probably on the coast the starling takes many marine 
shells. 
20. Top Shell (Trochus sp.). 
Several small Top Shells were found in a starling shot 
in May, 1911, near Wye, and others in a bird shot on 
Romney Marsh in 1899. 
in. — -THE CHAFFINCH (F ring ilia coclebs, Linn.). 
Owing to so little food being found in the chaffinches 
examined, the records given here must not be taken as giving 
any idea of the complete food of this bird. 
It is difficult to say why so little is found in the chaffinch, 
unless it is that the greater part of the insect diet of this bird 
is of such a frail nature that it is soon destroyed. That this 
is the case is borne out by the following experience : — In 
July, 1910, some chaffinches were observed in the garden 
of one of the writers stripping the Black Fly (Aphis rumicis) 
off broad beans, and also eating Rose Aphides. It was 
easily seen where they had worked and cleared off the Aphis. 
The birds were shot and examined carefully next day ; 2 whole 
aphides were found in one, 3 in another, and 6 wings only; 
the majority must thus have been so broken up as to be 
unidentifiable. One marked difference in the food of the 
birds examined in 1913, as distinct from 1912. was the greater 
amount of corn found. Corn found in the chaffinch differs 
from that found in the starling and rook, being nearly always 
in a fragmentary condition, while many seeds are shell-less, 
and so cannot be named. 
From January to December. 1912. 286 birds were received ; 
from January to December. 1913, 171 birds, and from January 
to May, 1914, 70 birds, making 527 in all. Of these, 34 birds 
were quite empty. 
