264 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



bird, except in very wooded districts, but the others are 

 not only constant thieves, but generally confine their 

 thefts to the very early morning before the gardeners 

 are up, and at that time they manage to gather much 

 booty; I believe a jackdaw will very soon strip a 

 walnut-tree. Yet I should welcome them all, and am 

 sure they do work which none but large birds can do, 

 in the destruction of the larger caterpillars, and especi- 

 ally the wire-worm and the larva of the cockchafer. 



But, allowing that the birds take toll of our fruits, 

 and to a very large extent, can we do without them ? 

 William Lawson, in 1618, wrote of the * 1000 delights 

 that are in an orchard and garden,' and named as a 

 special delight 'abroode of nightingales,' 'the gentle 

 robin redbreast,' and ' the silly wren,' and added : 



' The blackbird and the threstle sing loudly on a May morn- 

 ing, and delighte the eare much (and you neede not want 

 their company if you have ripe cherryes or berries), but I had 

 rather want their company than my fruit.' 



I do not agree with him ; a little trouble in netting 

 will do much to protect the fruit, and a garden without 

 birds wants one of its best ornaments. I do not know 

 who it was that called birds moving and flying flowers, 

 but they may well be so called, and they are flowers 

 that last in beauty all the year. 



And their songs can we do without them ? Faber 



