REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 69 



But most birds will eat fruit at certain seasons of the year, and it is 

 therefore necessary to adopt various means of deterring or debarring 

 them from their favourite fruits. Scarecrows of men or animals are 

 of little use. The birds get accustomed to them, and will come and 

 perch on them after a time. Wind and clapper-mills are better, as 

 the noise and motion have a deterrent effect. Two bright pieces of 

 tin, tied with a long string to the end of a pole, six feet or more high, 

 and placed in a slanting direction, are effective. Rows of peas, crocuses 

 in bloom, and other seeds and flowers, are preserved by having worsted, 

 cotton, or linen threads run along singly or in pairs about six inches 

 above them. No sooner does the bird alight for a meal than he looks 

 up to see that the course is safe and clear. The string awakes sus- 

 picion, and he is off at once. The same remedy has been recommended 

 to be used with fruit-trees on walls, a few inches in front of the leaves. 

 The birds alight upon this, the thread turns round with the grasp of 

 their feet, and pitches them suddenly to the ground. This plan is 

 much recommended, as it is said that a few tumbles are sufficient to 

 keep off the birds. Young cats, owls, and hawks are likewise occa- 

 sionally tied up to guard particular crops, and if they are placed in 

 sufficient numbers among the crops, they are effective, but not other- 

 wise. 



The different modes of deterring birds may be reduced to the 

 following : Excluding by netting, or other coverings, supported at a 

 few inches* distance from the rising seedlings, fruit, flower, or plants to 

 be protected ; setting up scares, of different kinds, such as mock men 

 or cats, mock hawks or other birds of prey, miniature wind-mills or 

 clapper-mills ; lines with feathers tied at regular distances, placed at a 

 few inches' distance above the rows of newly-sown peas, or other seeds 

 sown in drills ; over rows of crocuses or other dwarf spring flowers, or 

 over beds or entire compartments. A system of dark worsted threads, 

 placed in front of wall trees at a few inches' distance from the leaves, 

 will scare away most birds ; because, taking the worsted string for a 

 twig, and lighting on it, it turns round by the grasp, and sinking at 

 the same time by the weight, the bird falls, and if this happens to him 

 on a second attempt, he will be deterred for the future. The following 

 scare is founded on an idea given by Mr. Swainson in the ' Encyclo- 

 pedia of Agricul.,' 2nd edit., p. 1112 : Let poles, ten or twelve feet 

 high, be firmly fixed in the ground, in conspicuous parts of the 

 garden, each pole terminating in an iron spike six or eight inches long ; 

 pass this spike through the body of a dead hawk in the direction of 

 the back-bone : it will thus be firmly secured, and give the bird an 

 erect position ; the wings being free, will be moved by every breeze, 

 and their unnatural motion will prove the best scarecrow either for 

 ravenous or granivorous birds, more particularly the latter. Cats are 

 found useful in walled gardens as scares to birds, as well as for other 

 purposes. R. Brook, Esq., of Melton Lodge, near Woodbridge, in 

 Suffolk, had four or five cats, each with a collar and light chain and 

 swivel, about a yard long, with a large iron ring at the end. As soon 

 as the gooseberries, currants, and raspberries began to ripen, a small 



