BIRDS AND REPORT OF COMMITTEE. y 



bed as required, and our strawberries, goose- 

 berries, &c., protected by nets stretched over 

 neat wooden frames, we could welcome every 

 bird wliicli would visit our garden, certain tliat 

 whether he eat seed or insect he was doing us 

 good service. In fact, we may lay it down as 

 a rule that the only bird that really injures 

 man is the bird which kills another bird. 



The evidence about the beautiful ' bullfinch ' 

 is most conflicting. Some gentlemen maintain 

 that he eats the buds and destroys all the fruit ; 

 others that he only picks the bud for the sake of 

 the grub which would otherwise destroy it. If 

 a few gooseberry bushes were carefully netted 

 down during the three weeks in which he is seen 

 picking the buds, and their produce accurately 

 compared with that of the bushes to which he 

 had access, this question would be set at rest. 

 An estabhshed fact is worth any amount of 

 theory. If he is in pursuit of the grub the 

 remedy is often as bad as the disease. Four 

 years in succession he stripped our gooseberry 



