BIRDS IN THE GARDEN 263 



objects on a lawn, in which they seem to take an 

 especial delight, though their favourite hunting-ground 

 is in the pastures in front of cows and horses, to whom 

 they certainly do good service in freeing them from 

 flies. At one time it was supposed that starlings were 

 much diminishing in England, but they are in sufficient 

 numbers now, and we could ill afford to lose them. In 

 my own neighbourhood they roost in great flocks in a 

 large wood, which is a well-known fox cover, and I am 

 credibly informed that when they roost in the brush- 

 wood, which forms the larger part of the wood, the 

 foxes catch them in large numbers. 



It would be hard to guess at the number of flies that 

 the different fly-catchers destroy every day. They 

 are not afraid of man, and when they have a brood, 

 both the parent birds will occupy some low branch or 

 post within easy reach of their nest, and there, un- 

 deterred by any visitors, they will spend the whole day 

 in catching flies and taking them to their nest. I can- 

 not say anything now on the other fly-catching birds, 

 as the robin, wren, swallows, swifts, etc., except that 

 they are all useful and all beautiful. Of the larger 

 birds, the cuckoo will at times come into the garden, 

 and, I believe, never touches fruit ; but the jay, the 

 magpie, the rook, the jackdaw, and the wood-pigeon, 

 are all inveterate thieves. The jay is now a scarce 



