BIRDS IN THE GARDEN 113 



dourness of March, had an intoxicating effect on 

 sparrows, blackbirds, and tits ; certain it is they 

 set themselves now to the work of destruction 

 with a spirited abandon suggesting nothing but 

 revelry. When the sweet peas came above ground 

 Mr. Sparrow nipped off every plant flush for the 

 sheer fun of the thing. He did not pretend to 

 eat them. He merely hauled them out and left 

 them lying, chirruping loudly the while, and 

 dusted himself with the dried surface earth when 

 his wicked work was done. His whole demeanour 

 was that of a gamin let loose. The blackbird's 

 sins were equally bad in effect, though less wanton 

 in intention. He specialized on the larger peas, 

 carefully seizing the plant well down its stem and 

 pulling it free of the soil. Germinating peas are 

 not a food he cares about, but his ancestors long 

 ago made the discovery that when a young plant 

 is pulled out by the root some succulent grub may 

 be pulled out along with it. So the information 

 was passed on, and every blackbird makes a 

 point of acting upon it. The tits, great and blue, 

 liberated the wickedness of their nature on the 

 apple and pear-tree buds, and watching half a 

 dozen of them at work raining down the fragments, 

 I found it difficult to believe that they were after 

 food, and not merely revelling in spring-time fun. 

 Curiously enough the wickedest sinner of the 

 three is the most easily circumvented. Since 

 stretching black threads along the lines of the 

 sweet peas not a sparrow has come near them. 

 Mr. Sparrow is not only clever, but thinks himself 

 even cleverer than he is. He knows that mankind 

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