Report on the Food Found in 
5° 
Scope and Method of Enquiry. 
The total number of rooks received up to May, 1915, was 332, 
the number of starlings 662, and of chaffinches 490. The whole 
of the crop contents of these (1.484) specimens received have 
(with the exception of some of the chaffinches) been identified 
and recorded, but many of the particulars now stated concern 
the results obtained from the examination of 1,061 specimens, 
viz., 218 rooks, 486 starlings, and 357 chaffinches. 
It was requested by the Committee that each correspondent 
should, as far as possible, send in five specimens each month 
together with a “ form of particulars/’* Although the number 
of birds received has fallen much below that which it was hoped 
to obtain, some of the correspondents have sent in very many 
specimens and it may be said that most of them have rendered 
valuable assistance to the investigation by returning birds from 
time to time. 
The area covered by this investigation is fairly wide and of a 
varied character ; rooks have been received from 63 localities, 
starlings from 97 and chaffinches from 74 ; these localities are 
situated in the following counties : — Aberdeen, Anglesey, 
Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Carmarthenshire, Cheshire, 
Cumberland, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, Devonshire, County 
of Dublin, Dumfriesshire, Durham. County of Edinburgh, 
Essex, Fifeshire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, 
Isle of Wight, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Merionethshire, Mid- 
lothian. Monmouthshire, Norfolkshire, Northamptonshire 
Oxfordshire, Pembrokeshire, Radnorshire, Shropshire, Somer- 
setshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Westmorland, Worcester- 
shire, and Yorkshire. 
The supply of birds from the counties enumerated was 
insufficient, both in regard to total numbers and regularity, to 
base a really correct estimate of the birds’ economic position 
thereon. To take an example of the rook : from the county 
of Denbigh (which includes four localities, two near Wrexham 
and two near Llangollen) a fairly large number of birds 
were received during the months January to June, inclusive, 
and also August, but very few were received during 
September and December and none during July and November. 
Again, whilst about 52 starlings and 48 chaffinches were 
received from Denbighshire, only one specimen of each species 
was received from Westmorland. The above principle is 
of course also applicable to other counties. 
* This form is filled in by the correspondent, and contains all the particulars 
of the conditions under which the bird was shot. 
