NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



student of the habits of birds, as, with the thrush tribe 

 all but annihilated, the following summer snails were 

 a scourge, gooseberry bushes were stripped by in- 

 numerable caterpillars, and all trees that had been 

 injured by the frost had their sickly foliage propor- 

 tionately devoured by the red spider. 



" For the protection of my one and a half acres 

 of trees and fruit bushes, situated some 600 yards 

 from the town, I have within the vinery walls about 

 twenty-five pairs of sparrows, and my gooseberry 

 bushes are never touched. As for sparrows eating 

 the blooms, I have, as yet, only heard of the perform- 

 ance. These are stern, unattackable facts. During 

 the first year, after the serious frost referred to, I 

 dusted my bushes with hellebore powder. Amid the 

 shoals of dead caterpillars that lay under every bush 

 I discovered several dead sparrows, which had been 

 killed by eating the poisoned pests, and so I had it 

 proved conclusively that they did eat the gooseberry 

 caterpillar. 



" Birds that are fed on the premises, and that live 

 and feed amongst the trees, search for and attack the 

 larvae of grub at every stage of their existence. I 

 attribute much to having birds bred, and always near, 

 where you want them, for such never attack buds 

 ravenously, as do town-bred birds, the latter not being 

 able, so situated, to secure the green food necessary 

 for their health. With gooseberry bushes near a 

 stackyard you will probably find, especially during a 

 snow storm, that the want of green food has compelled 

 the birds to eat the buds. Also in early spring, in 



