38 A NEW ZEALAND NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 



digging up the early peas as they spring above the ground, 

 and disbudding the gooseberries as they put out their 

 tender shoots in early spring. No doubt they also do good, 

 but it is not so clear in what direction. I have frequently 

 noticed in my walks through the Town Belt how the 

 sparrows hawk for moths on. the wing, and how often they 

 light down on the path to strip a moth or beetle of its wings. 



I was greatly interested this last winter to notice that 

 the starlings were feeding on the berries of the cabbage 

 tree.* These are white and conspicuous little fruit pro- 

 duced in immense clusters, but the individual berries do 

 not seem to be very attractive, for the fleshy portion is very 

 thin and rather dry. Apparently insect food was rare, for 

 starlings are not as a rule fruit-eating birds. But I 

 remember that Rabelais in his Gargantuci speaks of their 

 having to be kept off the vines when the grapes were 

 ripening. 



A thick holly hedge surrounding the garden makes 

 splendid shelter for that pretty timid little brown bird the 

 hedge sparrow, which is one of the commonest of our bird 

 friends, and which, though such a quiet little creature, has 

 a low sweet piping song. Everyone surely is familiar 

 with the pretty sky-blue eggs, of which four or five are 

 laid in the mossy nest. The colour of these eggs and of 

 those of the thrush seems at first sight calculated to attract 

 attention, but, as Wallace has pointed out, "it is very 

 doubtful whether they are really so conspicuous when 

 seen at a little distance among their usual surroundings. 

 For the nests are either in evergreens or are surrounded 

 by the delicate green tints of our early spring vegetation, 

 and may thus harmonise very well with the colours round 

 them." One often sees a beautifully marked moth or 

 butterfly which seems a very conspicuous object in a 

 cabinet, but if we see it flying and watch it as it lights on 

 some leaf or stem we often find it very difficult to detect 

 it when at rest among similarly-coloured objects. So the 

 eggs of a hedge sparrow are conspicuous enough when 



* Cordyline australis. 



