162 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



( Feiruary 25, 187S. 



Gnava, Mango, and otbera too numerous to mention. The 

 capital of the company will be 510,000, *7000 of whicli is 

 already subscribed. Frost never reaches this place ; the 

 climate is deliehtful winter or summer, and perfectly healthy. 

 — {California Horliculturiiit.) 



THE SMALL-BIRD QUESTION. 



As the small-bird question has again turned up I may 

 perhaps be allowed to say a few words on the subject, not limit- 

 ing my remarks to sparrows alone, but to the whole family 

 of small birds, of which sparrows are not always the most 

 nnmsrous nor the greatest delinquents. In the present instance 

 we will class them with other small birds. I formed a con- 

 clusion ou this subject years ago, and I have not seen nor 

 heard of anything to induce me to alter the opinion then 

 stated. Let us now take a peep into Nature's book and see 

 the working of the matter in all its bearings, giving the birds 

 their due for all the useful purposes they fulfil, and contrari- 

 wise for all the mischief they do us. Taking the whole matter 

 into one view, we may rest perfectly assured that an All-wise 

 Providence sent both birds and their food in due proportions 

 into the world together, balancing the whole with a nicety 

 which we have no chance of imitating ; naj', on the contrary, 

 there is no question but man, more especially in the highly 

 civilised parts of the world, has very much destroyed this 

 balance, and in the case of small birds let us see how this has 

 been done. 



If wo lock into the mode that Nature has adopted to repro- 

 duce the various species of living objects that occupy the world 

 we shall see that the pmallest, aud those that furnish food for 

 beings larger than themselves, increase the most numerously. 

 That is a wise and beneficent law, and is exemplified by birds 

 only in common with other animals. This law is essential to 

 preserving a due balance, founded on the natural principle of 

 supply and demand. 



The preservation of game has altered the intention of Nature 

 considerably ; the birds of prey, usually so called, whose duty 

 it was in a great measure to thin and weed out the superfluous 

 small birds, have themselves been persecuted almost to entire 

 annihilation, henee the whole family of the little warblers 

 have multiplied out of proportion to their uses ; added to this 

 there has been a good deal of sympathy created in their fa- 

 vour by those who are not suffering by their depredations. 

 Such kindly sympathisers think themselves aggrieved because 

 the farmer or gardener destroys some of them in retaliation 

 for the injury they do him. This injury is great, especially in 

 country places where woods and other means of cover give the 

 birds every encouragement to multiply, and where the assidu- 

 ous gamekeeper has taken the pains to destroy all hawks, 

 owls, magpies, and other birds of a larger kind that either 

 make the smaller ones or their eggs their daily food. This 

 has teaded to augment the number of small birds beyond 

 what is necessary ; and although the denizen of a city, whose 

 early morning walks may be enlivened by the song of these 

 harbingers of spring, and forthwith rushes to print in their 

 behalf, ought at all events to allow those who sutler from them 

 to give an opinion as well, or rather they as losers ought to 

 have a decided claim for recompenfe, which can only bo done 

 by waging war on the aggressor in spite of a feeling of sym- 

 pathy which has been thrown into the case and against bird- 

 destrHction. 



By the extirpation of carnivorous birds nnd bird-destroying 

 animals by the gamekeeper, the preponderance of small birds 

 is but a natural consequence. These flourish in the home pre- 

 serves, where a gun is seldom heard, and as a matter of course 

 avail themselves of the luxuries of horticulture. And here, 

 unfortunately for the cultivator, they seem to be fonder of seeds 

 and fruit than of insects. Newly-germinating seeds of sweet 

 green Peas appear to suit their tastes exactly, while amongst 

 fruits the thrushes and blackbirds are most audacious and per- 

 sistent maurauders. Neither is netting elfectual. In some 

 way or other the birds will be in. I have known upwards of 

 twenty birds a-day taken from under nets which were con- 

 sidered birdproof, and how many escaped could never be 

 known. I daresay there are those who would advocate the 

 setting at liberty of theee caught birds, on the grounds of 

 humane and kindly feeling, and as a protest against cruelty. 

 Their testimony is, however, only one-sided, and the charge of 

 cruelty is at best a morbid one, seeing that they have not suf- 

 fered any injury. It is not attempted here to be denied that 

 small birds have a duty to perform in the economy of Nature, os 



have also mice, rats, snakes, wasps, and the like, over which no 

 one, as far as 1 am aware, has yet thrown the cloak of protec- 

 tion ; but when the balance between one class and another is 

 so effectually broken as it is between the small birds and their 

 natural enemies, tomtits, chaffinches, sparrows, and the like 

 abound in greater numbers than are required : hence the reason- 

 able source of complaint. 



With regard to the question of birds devouring caterpillars 

 and insects in general, there seems a great difference of opinion 

 ou the part of those competent to give one ; and the matter 

 would resolve itself into the question. Are gardens which are 

 much infested by birds more free from insect pests than others 

 in populous districts where sparrows are the only birds to be 

 met with in any number ? My own opinion would be that 

 birds only look after the caterpillar and insect family when 

 they have young, and I am not sure that they always do that. 

 In this immediate neighbourhood Filbert and Cob nuts are 

 extensively grown, and no class of tree suffers more from the 

 caterpillar than these do ; and although there is a difference of 

 opinion about the utility of birds in helping to clear them of 

 these pests, by far the greater number of growers— and thny are 

 an exceedingly observant class — assert that the caterpillar- 

 destroying birds are very few indeed. Pains have been taken 

 to shoot several and examine their crops without any token of 

 a caterpillar inside. A friend of mine made a good many 

 experiments of this kind at a time when his plantation was 

 almost denuded of foliage by these vermin, and when he as 

 well as others were employing all the women and boys they 

 could collect together to pick them off by hand. The cost of 

 this handpicking is immense. 



Now, if the friends of the feathered creation could train 

 their pets to accomplish this task, it is needless to say what a 

 saving of labour and expense it would be. I cannot at this 

 moment call to memory how many bushels of caterpillars I 

 have heard of being gathered in one season from one plantation, 

 but certainly it was measured by bushels, and yet this was 

 in a neighbourhood abounding in birds of most kinds. So 

 greatly did small birds abound, that the cultivation of Goose- 

 berries has been in some cases discontinued in consequence of 

 the injury done to the trees by the buds being picked out just 

 as they were beginning to swell and start into growth. This 

 evil was so great some years ago that many Gooseberry planta- 

 tions were done away with, all but one particular kind — a rough 

 yellow one that ripens early, but not large, its buds when in a 

 young state being much smaller than those of the generality of 

 Gooseberries, and consequently less cared for by the birds. 



But Gooseberry buds are not the only buds that suffer at 

 such times. Plums are equally laid under contribution, and 

 the wrathful remarks of growers who see a fine tree disfigured 

 by such means may be justly placed in the scale against all the 

 evidence of those who gain but do not suffer by the mischief 

 these lively marauders so quickly accomplish. To listen to these 

 songsters in early morn is charming enough, both to the dwellers 

 of the town and the country fruit-growers ; but as the latter 

 are the only sufferers in the case, they can hardly be blamed 

 for taking the law into their own hands. The mere wanton 

 destruction of fruit would seem the aim of the offender rather 

 than satisfying hunger. The birds pick from each and spoil 

 the whole, and pick at a point, too, the best to hasten the 

 fruit's decay. It is all very well to say they may be kept off 

 with nets and such like ; it is only those who suffer most that 

 know the difficulties in such cases. 



It is needless adding more on this question, which if open 

 to discussion ought to be taken in hand by those who have 

 suffered most by them, as well as by those who think they 

 have benefited by their presence. Mere admirers ought only 

 to have a secondary place, as they ought not to be too urgent 

 in advocating their hobby where it is at another one's expense, 

 as has been shown above. 



In conclusion, I would not have it inferred that I am an 

 enemy to small birds where they exist in moderation, as I am 

 fully sensible of their utUity, and have no doubt but they 

 will do good in Australia and other countries to which many 

 arc being taken. It is only where they are encouraged to a 

 degree disproportioned to the wants of the neighbourhood, 

 and when cultivation has limited the supply of food Nature 

 originally intended them to partake of, as the seeds of wild 

 plants and the like ; then I say let a part of them be destroyed. 



— J. EOESON. 



I HOLD a different opinion to Mr. G. Abbey's " boy of fifteen," 

 who asserted that sparrows feed their young on caterpillars. 



