106 



Bird Notes and News 



Economic Ornithology. 



TITS AND FRUIT-TREES. 

 A useful record of observation with regard 

 to the ways of Tits is contributed to the 

 West Sussex Gazette (July 8) by Mr. Guermon- 

 prez, the writer of its nature-column. When 

 a certain cherry-tree in Bognor was in full 

 bloom Mr. Guermonprez noticed the visits 

 to it of Great and Blue Tits, and the fact 

 that they picked off many hundreds of 

 blossoms, cutting across the corolla at the 

 base as though in search of insects in the 

 corolla, and in some cases pecking or nipping 

 the nascent fruit. A great many hundreds 

 of flowers were however left untouched, and 

 these should have sufficed to produce a 

 good crop. But these fell off, for no apparent 

 reason, and scarcely half a dozen cherries 

 ripened. Examination indicated that here 

 insects had been at work and that the tree 

 itself was unhealthy, containing a quantity 

 of dead wood. 



"It is likely that a sequence of disease, 

 insect attack, and bird aid are thus shown. 

 The several Morello cherry trees in my garden 

 adjoining were left quite unattacked, not 

 a flower being touched by the birds. The 

 flowers of the Morellos on examination proved 

 to be quite free from insects. . . . Thus the 

 damage done by the birds, which was but 

 slight in proportion to the bloom, was an 

 attempt at aid, and not wanton mischief." 



THE DIAMOND-BACKED MOTH. 



In the June number of the Journal of the 

 Board of Agriculture, Mr. Harper Gray deals 

 with the diamond-back moth, the cater- 

 pillars of which do enormous damage to the 

 turnip crop of Great Britain. Experiments 

 are recorded with paraffin and sand, lime- 

 sulphur, and ground lime to prevent the 



eggs being laid, with leaf-brushing or 

 " scuffling " to destroy the caterpillars, and 

 by coke-fires to attract and kill the moths. 

 Incidentally it is mentioned that " in one 

 case Starlings and Plovers cleared the cater- 

 pillars from a badly attacked field of turnips 

 in four days, after which the turnips grew 

 vigorously, while in another case a turnip- 

 field, black with these birds eating the 

 caterpillars, showed no sign of the moth 

 afterwards." The " practical conclusions " 

 added by the author therefore, it may be 

 supposed, recommend that farmers should 

 encourage these valuable and cheap allies 

 on their land ? By no means. The scuffler 

 and the ground-lime, entailing labour and 

 expense, are recommended. The bird as a 

 labourer is not recognized by the Board of 

 Agriculture, and the farmer tells the County 

 Council that he wants to have protection 

 taken off the Starling. 



Yet the services of birds of various species 

 in regard to saving crops from the diamond- 

 back moth have been pointed out again and 

 again. After the great incursion of this 

 pest on the East Coast in 1891, when they 

 descended on turnip and swede fields like 

 locusts, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, and 

 Linnets were mentioned as helping greatly 

 to destroy the grubs (Report on Injurious 

 Insects, 1891). 



THE STARLING. 



The following letter from the Secretary 



of the R.S.P.B. appeared in the leading 



newspapers of Worcestershire in July : — 



' ' The attention of this society has been 

 called to the efforts that are being made by 

 certain members of the Worcester County 



