THE BIRDS. 



545 



Wagtail (Motacilla Boaruld] and Ray's Wagtail (Motacilla Rayi) have 

 also been observed, but of these two latter I have no knowledge. The 

 pied wagtails sometimes build their nests and rear their young in our 

 garden ; they are very ornamental, from their quick movements and 

 rapid mode of running after the flies and insects on which they feed. 



Five species of Titmice grace the garden with their presence. 

 Sometimes they do good by destroying the insects, and sometimes 

 they do much harm by devouring the fruit. They are charming 

 birds, particularly the Blue Titmice (Pants cceruleus, fig. 11/4), which 

 are most beautiful and interesting creatures. Twice a year they come 

 to the garden in flocks : once in the early spring, when they pick 



FIG. 1174. Blue Titmouse, Jth nat. size. 



out the blossom buds of the pear, and especially of the Doyenne 

 d'Ete ; and again in the autumn, when the pears are full-grown, at 

 which time they make a little hole in the fruit : thereby exposing it to 

 the ravages of wasps or of other insects, or admitting the spores of 

 fungi which cause it to prematurely rot. In this way a flock of titmice 

 will destroy a large crop of fruit in two or three hours. In winter 

 they do incalculable good by destroying the eggs of insects, and, later 

 in the season, even the insects themselves. Regarding them simply 

 from a utilitarian point of view, it is immaterial to me whether my 

 plant is destroyed by a caterpillar or by a titmouse, so when they 

 come as a devouring army my gardeners scare them away by firing 

 upon them and killing one or two ; and as all creatures are greatly 

 terrified at the sight of the dead bodies of their own species, they 



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