Bird Notes and News 



95 



BIRDS Versus INSECTS. 



Miss Dresser writes from Lyndhurst — 



" My own experience is that I encourage 

 birds by every means in my power, and we 

 have enormous crops of fruit which never 

 fail. I have only half an acre of garden, and 

 one year two off us picked (independent of 

 what the gardener gathered) over a hundred- 

 weight of black currants. Last year scarcely 

 anyone in the neighbourhood had apples, 

 and we had a bountiful supply. My theory 

 is that if you allow the birds to keep the 

 trees clean there is enough for everybody. 

 Strawberries are the only crop we net." 



From Ealing another correspondent 

 writes — 



" We planted some peas in our garden and 

 they were completely covered with green-fly. 

 The Sparrows came to our assistance, and, 

 deftly hopping in and out of the twigs 

 supporting the plants, made a complete 

 clearance of the fly, without touching a 

 single pea. It seems evident that they 

 eat insect food for a longer time than is 

 commonly supposed. We have had beans 

 and French beans and currants and rasp- 

 berries, and the only depredation was that 

 of currants by a hen blackbird, who could 

 not resist the temptation afforded." 



From Kent — 



" My husband and I are very fond of 

 birds, and we are fruit-growers and know 

 their value. He is also learned in entomo- 

 logy and understands the harm wrought by 

 insect pests." 



From " Letters by a Lady Gardener" in 

 Garden Life (August 4) — 



"Robins, Chaffinches, Titmice, Hedge- 

 Sparrows, Garden-Warblers, and all the 

 smaller birds are amongst our best under- 

 gardeners ; and although the House-Sparrow 

 may do a certain amount of mischief at 

 times, he pays for it b}^ feeding his young on 

 insects and living in winter on the seeds of 

 many weeds. . . . My garden is full of birds ; 

 but there is no garden in the neighbourhood 

 with finer crops of fruit, as well as vegetables, 

 and the fruit is as free from insects as the 

 flowers from bhght." 



From " A Gardener in the Suburbs " — 



" One of the numerous instructors of the 

 public in the art of food-economy recom- 

 mends utilization of ' wild foods,' including 



not only Thrushes, Blackbirds, Terns, Herons, 

 Plovers and their eggs, etc., but also grass- 

 hoppers, snails, caterpillars, and couch-grass. 

 It may be hoped his recipes are better than 

 his law, for he blunders into the assertion 

 that ' Like all other birds, save starUng and 

 woodpigeon, blackbirds and their eggs are 

 protected by law in most counties from 

 March 1 to August 1,' whereas 'Green 

 Plovers' eggs may be collected almost every- 

 where by careful searching between March 

 and June ' ! We may, however, take it as 

 certain that if the public eat the Thrushes 

 and other small birds they will also have to 

 eat the snails and caterpillars. But the 

 birds would make a better job of it." 



MERLIN AND GROUSE. 



The following account of the relations 

 between game and other wild birds on a 

 grouse moor is of special value as coming 

 from a sportsman ; name and address are 

 -withheld for the sake of the Merlins. 



" I am one of several lessees of a moor 

 of about 1500 acres, whose locality I will 

 not disclose for the benefit of collectors and 

 dealers. For about one-third of its circum- 

 ference it is bounded by a ' freeholders ' 

 moor, where anj'one may shoot and where 

 Grouse are shot at ' caU ' nearly every 

 morning of the season. The moor I am 

 describing is moderately Mell burnt and 

 trapped and is shot over (by driving) by 

 eight or nine guns ten times a year. Not 

 more than two or three of the shooters 

 could be classed ' very good,' and two guns 

 are not used. WTien I say that the average 

 bag is 500 brace for the season it wiU be 

 seen that quite a good head of game is kept 

 up. 



" For many years a benevolent neutrality 

 has been observed towards Hawks, Owls, 

 and Gulls, and this season three pairs of 

 iMerlins have nested on the moor, besides 

 another pair on some adjoining land. There 

 is also a reservoir on whose shores some 

 twenty pairs of Blackheaded Gulls have 

 regularly nested. The moor has for some 

 time been kept under observation by amateur 

 naturalists, who are of opinion that the 

 Merlins feed chiefly on titlarks and other 

 small birds, and the Gulls on insects, etc., 

 but that neither of them interfere with the 

 young grouse or with the eggs," 



