160 THE SONG THRUSH 



the birds leave as soon as fit to journey for the purpose of obtaining 

 food, and the supplies of animal food being restricted by season, 

 they betake themselves to a frugivorous dietary. Thus they find 

 out the strawberries in gardens and fields as soon as the berries 

 change colour for ripening, and follow on with currants, gooseberries, 

 raspberries, etc. Great numbers may be killed, yet fresh arrivals 

 take the place of the slaughtered birds. Truly there is migration 

 from the breeding places to the fruit quarters, as there also is from 

 these as soon as the fruit crops are cleared to the shrubberies and 

 woods. Of course, there is a thrush migration from one part of 

 the country to another, many parts of the kingdom being almost 

 bereft of song thrushes from October to the end of January, while 

 there is a considerable immigration in the autumn on our east coast 

 by birds coming from Northern Europe ; the latter, however, after 

 a short sojourn, mostly departing accompanied by many home-bred 

 birds, while some mate and remain in Britain. Notwithstanding 

 the migrations song- thrushes are to be found in gardens, copses and 

 woods the year round, charming with song betimes in autumn and 

 winter, and rapturously pouring forth their melody in spring. 

 In shrubberies, thickets and woods, thrushes are reared that devas- 

 tate the fruit crops. No real provision is made for keeping them 

 there, and no restriction placed on their undue increase. Bird- 

 nesting is forbidden by law, fruit-growers naturally say in the inter- 

 est of the game -preserver, and the " wild bird's protector " who has no 

 fruit upon which depends his livelihood for the birds to devour, 

 while the national taste is not for thrush-shooting as in Belgium, 

 France, and Germany, where it begins on August 12, the birds being 

 esteemed for the table, and their arrival in certain districts regarded 

 with much interest, for they are easily ensnared. Possibly Britons 

 may acquire like taste, and fruit-growers in fields and fruit planta- 

 tions recoup themselves for the damage done to the fruit crops by 

 killing the birds and disposing of them as food. This, however, 

 is very remote ; therefore, fruit-growers must take stringent 

 measures to safeguard their crops of fruit from the pecking 

 and devouring birds. 



Bird-minders must have gun licences, costing ios., and so must 

 the fruit-farmer if he intends to scare or shoot birds, as no one is 

 allowed to carry firearms without a licence. But bird-scaring is 

 of very little use. The birds soon become accustomed to the report of 

 a gun, and while the scarer is at one end. of a plot of strawberries 

 extending to acres, the birds are pecking vigorously at the other. 

 Even shooting is an expensive procedure, as it means shooting on 

 the wing, and then there is much damage done in spite of the gunner 

 or gunners. The best thing is trapping ; the Common Rat-trap 

 (Fig. 99), either with round or square jaws, preferably the latter, is 

 excellent, a partly ripe strawberry being secured by its stalk to the 

 table, and the trap outside the row of plants so as to be easily seen. 



