Hedgerow Life 
dodges and clever contrivances, and 
their enemies doing their best to devour 
And the birds hunt up and 
down so perseveringly, and their eyes 
them. 
are so sharp and bright, that they catch 
and eat enormous numbers of insects. 
But they never succeed in eating them 
all. If they did they would die of 
starvation the 
larger bird-eating hawks and_ beasts 
themselves—just as 
would die in the same way if they ate 
up all the little birds and mice. And if 
the little birds like the bottle-tit and 
Mrs. Jenny Wren have to lay a large 
number of eggs to allow for the young 
birds which get killed and eaten, the 
insects have to lay still greater numbers 
to keep themselves in the world at all. 
Many of them lay hundreds or thousands 
of eggs, and some even more than that ; 
32 
