THE USEFUL BIRDS 



and their value less appreciated, by the majority of those 

 who reap the benefit of their work. Thus an orchardist 

 who will note the disappearance of aphis from his fruit 

 trees has not the least suspicion that it is owing to the 

 work of Silver-eyes and little brown Tits. Indeed, he 

 only knows the Silver-eye as a pest on soft fruits. Yet it 

 is probable that no means that he could employ would 

 enable him to grow any fruit but for the busy, impudent, 

 prying little gourmands, existing in greatest numbers where 

 they are most w^anted. Most insectivorous birds seem to 

 show preference for special insects. Such a bird is the 

 Harmonious Shrike-Thrush, whose fondness for hard -shelled 

 beetles, especially of the borer kind, makes it a very 

 valuable friend. Often have I watched our Thrush take its 

 favourite beetle from the hiding place to the solid top of a 

 post, and there drive its bill, crowbar-like, into the beetle's 

 shell, break it up, and eat it in pieces. I am convinced our 

 immunity from the borer pest is due to the great number 

 of Shrike-Thrushes with which our locality (Heytesbury 

 Forest) is favoured. The very few who are able to estimate 

 the services rendered to a vegetable garden by a family of 

 Blue Wrens I have found always careful to preserve a little 

 cover, to encourage their stay and assist them in their 

 increase. What we owe to the various species of Fly- 

 catchers in preventing the spread of noxious flying insects 

 has. perhaps never been correctly judged. These take no 

 toll, and require only an evergreen in which to lodge in 

 return for their labour, or the labour they save. Tree- 

 creepers and Robins, Wood-Swallows and Tits, unlike other 

 workers, the more they eat the better they pay. Out in 

 our open paddocks the bold, alert White-backed Magpie 

 dominates the bird world. Each area has its family — 

 male, female, and young — or else a colony of non-breeders. 

 Such a colony, of about seventy bachelor males and 



