A PEW REMARKS ON THE V.'OODCOCK, 77 



side; and as a cultivator of the soil from my cradle, I, without the least fear, 

 pronounce them to be far more serviceable than injurious; and am convinced 

 that in gardens a few white threads, with feathers or bits of paper tied and 

 suspended, so as to dangle over the beds, will prove effective in scaring them 

 away; for with all their impudence they are exceedingly wary and fearful of 

 danger; while netting is effective in the preservation of all fruit trees. To accuse 

 the Sparrow of nibbling off the buds of trees, etc., for food, is a most mistaken 

 idea; — they do nothing of the sort. They are also accused of plucking off 

 the flowers of auriculas, polyanthuses, etc., and even to diet upon the petals 

 of the dahlia. Has it never occurred to those persons who thus accuse them, 

 that it is insects they are in search of, particularly that destructive pest, the 

 common earwig; for this service the poor Sparrow is denounced as the destroyer 

 of their flowers, while the real enemy is hidden from their sight. In gardens 

 the gardener is in nine cases out of ten himself or his employers to blame, 

 as there are innumerable devices without the aid of poison, traps, or guns- 

 The farmer is differently situated, he cannot cover his fields of seed, but with 

 the use of a little powder and a boy, he may effectually guard himself, without 

 dealing death and destruction around him. 



We should bear in mind that the injuries we receive from birds are direct, 

 and the benefits indirect, which leads many of us to decide against them; 

 we, therefore, should carefully investigate their habits before we proceed to 

 take away that life we cannot give. As we have before said in our remarks 

 on the persecuted Rook, that man is justified in protecting his crops, but he 

 should act discriminately; for, let those societies for killing Sparrows beware, 

 lest when they find their seed crops in the jaws of a more deadly enemy, 

 which they can neither shoot, trap, or poison, they may wish that they had 

 paused in their work of destruction, and left a few of their poor enemies, the 

 vSparrows, to rid them of the pest. To such societies I would most seriously 

 suggest the following Motto: — 



"Xo birds that haunt my valley free, 

 To slaughter I condemu; 

 Taught by the power that pities me, 

 I learn to pity them." 



5, Middle- Street, Taunton, February 6th., 1854. 



A FEW REMARKS ON THE WOODCOCK, 

 {SCO LOP AX RUSTICOLA.) 



BY THE REV. R. ARCHER JULIAN. 



This species has been more than usually abundant here this season. 

 From the 5th. to the 12th. of October a few are invariably to be found 

 on Dartmoor amongst the heath and dead ferns near the tors, probably the 

 first land of seeming security which they perceive on their arrival in this 



