118
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
that season; at other seasons their pellets are apparently
infrequent.
Reference to the literature of the subject proves that no-
exhaustive treatise on pellet production by birds has been
written in this country: the records of individual species of
birds which throw up castings, though numerous, are scattered
through ornithological literature, and often receive but a casual
mention as though of inferior importance. Yet surely the
exact knowledge of what our feathered friends eat should be
of interest to us as naturalists as it certainly is to themselves;
and such knowledge becomes of economic importance when
we seek to determine whether a given species of bird is bene-
ficial, or inimical, to our own human interests as agriculturists,
as fruit-growers, as poultry-breeders or as game-preservers.
It has, therefore, been thought desirable to bring together these
scattered records of pellet casting for the better information of
students of bird-life. At the same time I take the opportunity of
incorporating the results of some slight research in the dissection
of "pellets" and determination of their contents, carried out in
the Club's Museum, with a view to rendering the information
upon the subject more complete. The material which has fur-
nished the facts hereinafter given is preserved in the Club's
Museum at Stratford, where it will be available for study by
ornithologists.
I find that records exist (or are now supplied) of pellet-casting
in some 70 different birds, including no less than 62 British species.
Of this total, 23 birds have actually been seen to eject pellets,
or else a pellet ready for ejection has been found in the gizzard;
in the case of 29 others pellets have been found around, beneath
or actually in the nest or roost or at the feeding-place; in 8 other
cases pellets have been picked up away from the nest, and as-
cribed with more or less certainty to definite birds; while in
yet 10 others the statement is made that certain birds cast pellets,
but no evidence is adduced in support of the assertion. These
may be tabulated as follows:—
A. Birds seen to eject pellets, or pellet found in gizzard:—
Redbreast Merlin
Red-backed Shrike Kestrel
Spotted Flycatcher Shag
Rook Purple Heron
Kingfisher Common Bittern