70 THE SMALLER QUADRUPEDS, CONSIDERED 



stake was driven into the ground, or bed, near the trees to be protected, 

 leaving about a yard and a half of the stake above ground ; the ring 

 was slipped over the head of the stake, and the cat being thus tethered 

 in sight of the trees, no birds approached them. Cherry trees and 

 wall-fruit trees were protected in the same manner as they successively 

 ripened. Each cat, by way of a shed, had one of the largest sized flower- 

 pot laid on its side, within reach of its chain, with a little hay or 

 straw in bad weather, and her food and water placed near her. A 

 wall of vines between 200 and 300 yards long, in Kirke's Nursery, 

 Brompton, the fruit of which, in all previous seasons, had been very 

 much injured by birds, was one year completely protected from them, 

 in consequence of a .cat having constantly posted herself in the 

 vicinity. ('Hort. Trans./ 2nd series, and ' Gar d. Mag.,' vol. xii. p. 

 429.) A stuffed cat has also been found efficacious. Crows and rooks are, 

 in some parts of the country, deterred from lighting on sown wheat by 

 pieces of rag dipped in a mixture of bruised gunpowder and tar, and 

 stuck on rods, which are placed here and there over the field, and the 

 rags renewed every three or four days. Of course this scare only 

 operates where the birds have been previously accustomed to be shot 

 at. The most certain mode of scaring birds, however, is to set boys 

 or other persons to watch and sound a wooden clapper all round the 

 fruit, or seeds, which may be ripening or germinating. Protection 

 with wire or twine netting, bunting, or cheese-cloth is, however, the 

 cheapest and most effective barrier to the ravages of birds. Unless 

 where wire-netting is used, a framework of wood should always be 

 employed, to keep perishable materials off the ground. This frame- 

 work should be raised so high as to enable a man or boy to get under- 

 neath to gather the fruit as wanted. Such an arrangement will re- 

 quire more material in the first instance, but it will last treble the 

 time, and add immensely to comfort and despatch in its use. 



The destruction of birds is most judiciously effected by traps, or by 

 poisoning, because neither of these modes operates like the gun in 

 scaring away others. " The report of fire-arms is terrible to birds ; 

 and, indeed, it ought never to be heard in places in which you wish to 

 encourage the presence of animated nature. Where the discharge of 

 fire-arms is strictly prohibited, you will find that the shiest species of 

 birds will soon forget their wariness, and assume habits which perse- 

 cution prevents them from putting in practice. Thus the cautious 

 heron will take up its abode in the immediate vicinity of your mansion ; 

 the barn-owl will hunt for mice under the blazing sun of noon, even 

 in the very meadow where the haymakers are at work ; and the 

 widgeons will mix, in conscious security, with the geese, as they pluck 

 the sweet herbage on your verdant lawn." 



The smaller Quadrupeds, considered with reference to Horticulture. 



A few of these deserve notice, partly as the enemies of gardens, and 

 partly as the subduers of other garden enemies ; and in order that 

 none deserving notice may escape, we shall take them in scientific order. 



