Society for the Protection of Birds.—No. 46. 
ESSAY 
ON 
Birds in the Field and Garden. 
To which was awarded the First Prize in the Society's 
Essay Competition, 1902-1903, 
T HE economic value of birds is a subject of the greatest interest,. 
but it is practically unexplored ground. It takes a close 
observer to see the good which is done, while any damage to a 
crop is at once noticed, and too often put down to “ them pesky 
birds” with the penalty of indiscriminate slaughter. We have no 
classification of birds to tell us which are useful, and which harmful 
to man. Perhaps this is not to be wondered at; the field of obser¬ 
vation is so large—and competent observers so few. Perhaps 
books tell so little of the food of birds because school-trained eyes 
have not been taught to see. Every one who loves birds must know 
that with birds, as with men, few are wholly virtuous. Even the 
most beautiful and melodious of insect-eaters, such as the Nightin¬ 
gale and the Swallow, do not confine themselves to noxious insects; 
the same bird often eats the pest and the parasite which preys upon 
it. In the same way few birds are wholly harmful, even the House 
Sparrow makes some amends for a life of hooliganism by feeding 
its callow young on caterpillars—and between the extremes lie all 
possible combinations of good and evil. The problem of classifica 
tion is indeed far from simple. It is most difficult to be sure what 
insects birds are eating; even an examination of the crop—which 
involves killing the bird—will not divulge the species of small soft 
insects which have been taken only a short time before. Moreover, 
birds have individual tastes to a considerable extent ( e.g ., the 
Peregrine Ealcon), and normally they take a very mixed diet. 
There must be much scientific study of bird-food before any satis¬ 
factory appraisal of merit can be obtained. This involves an 
immense expenditure of time, but much may be done by watching 
