HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



149 



He foresaw also the possible uses of his invention, 

 and indeed pointed some of them out with surprising 

 clearness, especially in the case of forestalling 

 criminals, for it must be borne in mind that one of 

 the very first uses of the Cooke-Wheatstone telegraph 

 was instrumental in effecting the prompt capture of 

 the Salthill murderer. 



That " little upper room " could not possibly be in 

 better hands ; for one of its present owners' ruling 

 maxims is that truly excellent one of letting well 

 alone as long as may be, for Mr. Morris, while 

 eager to demolish and re-create the structure of 

 society, is, on the other hand, a zealous stickler for 

 preserving the structures of antiquity from the 

 ravages of change and renovation. 



W. G. Kemp. 



57 Wester oft Square, Ravenscourt Park, W. 



THE FOOD OF THE BIRDS. 



IN the pages of Science-Gossip for November and 

 December, 1889, I offered the results of some 

 observations concerning bird-life in Worcestershire, 

 and I now propose to record my notes on the varied 

 foods on which they thrive in the orchard county of 

 the West Midlands, knowing full well the relation 

 between bird distribution and the many fruit pests 

 which abound amid the apples and pears and plums. 

 Whilst Miss Ormerod, backed up by the Royal 

 Agricultural Society, and eminent American 

 naturalists, are striving to devise a sure remedy for 

 killing aphidoe, and accomplishing sterling work in 

 each successive year in regard to agriculture 

 generally, I think the mission of the birds is yet 

 somewhat ignored ; the wholesale destruction of nests 

 and eggs (which, alas ! are not yet protected by law 

 in England) is, in view of these insect pests, little 

 short of a national calamity ; as the birds decrease, 

 the blight and caterpillars tend to increase. Hay- 

 bands steeped in a sticky composition of cart-grease 

 and various ingredients, wrapped round the o tree 

 trunks in autumn, may prevent certain wingless 

 coleopterous or lepidopterous insects from crawling 

 up the fruit trees to deposit the ova : or solutions of 

 Paris green, quassia, or Prussian blue may kill the 

 aphis and larval insects in some stages without injury 

 to the trees themselves. But the birds, if they are 

 allowed fair play, will also do their part, even if 

 they demand a toll later in the year by eating some 

 of the ripening fruit. Some birds, I allow, are 

 notorious pests in gardens, doing great harm and 

 little good ; but the converse of this is the general rule, 

 and I beg to offer my own imperfect observations on 

 the habits of some of our common English birds, 

 coupling with my remarks the hope that legislation 

 will before long come to the rescue of the birds 

 which are being decimated on every side. Where it 

 is even now unlawful to kill certain birds in the close 

 season, the eggs are absolutely unprotected ; hence 



the war of extermination against the peewit or 

 common plover, for example, about which such 

 complaints have lately been made in " The Field." 



I. Between the first and third weeks in May last I 

 watched closely the movements of a nightingale in a 

 market garden. With glasses I saw the bird, in the 

 intervals of song, devour several caterpillars from the 

 blossoming plum trees. It feeds a great deal at 

 night, is said to take small quantities of ripe fruit in 

 the late summer, but its presence in gardens is most 

 beneficial. 



II. Three years ago, when a damson tree in a 

 private garden was loaded with setting fruit, I 

 watched the operations of half-a-dozen blue-tits (/*. 

 caruleus) on several successive days. The tree was 

 infested with aphidce, threatening a total destruction 

 of the immature fruit. These tits are said to destroy 

 the young leaf-buds, and I wished to note what 

 happened. For days the tiny birds, with many others, 

 worked at the tree ; leaf-buds and young shoots to 

 some extent fell on the ground, together with fruit, but 

 each leaflet appeared to be cankered, and the aim of 

 the birds was most certainly the insects. I do not 

 say that the plum tree was cleared of blight ; but I do 

 know that such an improvement was effected that the 

 crop was practically saved, whereas, at one time, it 

 looked as if every branch must be destroyed with the 

 swarming aphis. All the tit family seem to search 

 the fruit trees diligently for insect food, doing, in my 

 opinion, far more good than harm. 



ill. The greenfinch, or green linnet, is one of the 

 most injurious birds in a garden. If radish seed is 

 planted in the open ground these birds find it out in 

 some mysterious manner, and will grub up whole 

 beds of seed. This fact I have often observed, and 

 have little doubt that they ravage other crops. 



IV. Blackbirds are a great nuisance among the soft 

 fruits in their season ; but at other times of , the year 

 industriously search for wireworm and other garden 

 or field pests. Thrushes are less of fruit-robbers, but 

 great slug-eaters. 



V. All the warblers appear to me insect-feeders, 

 vi. The red-backed shrike is not uncommon in the 



Worcestershire orchards. It does not injure any 

 vegetation as far as I can see, feeding on hard- 

 winged insects and even young birds. 



VII. The hawfinch is not by any means rare. The 

 crop of a bird that I examined in winter time was 

 full of hard laburnum seeds. Having somewhat of 

 a bad name, I do not think it really does much 

 harm. 



VIII. As to the bullfinch, it certainly eats fruit- 

 buds. A correspondent in the " Standard," however, 

 recently called attention to the fact that his goose- 

 berry bushes, having been most vigorously attacked 

 by these birds, and many young buds eaten, afterwards 

 bore fruit as if nothing had happened. 



IX. Nuthatches abound, taking nuts, which they 

 store in the crevices of the bark ; they do not cause 



