28 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



larvae, seeds, green tops ; June, July fruits of the garden, 

 seeds, insects ; August grain, insects, berries ; September 

 grain, berries ; October, November, December grain, refuse, 

 seeds, berries." 



" The proprietors of gardens have a special reason for 

 gratitude towards the sparrow. Gooseberries are a favourite 

 fruit, whether fresh or preserved, and we are too often doomed 

 to see our trees lose their leaves, and the crop of fruit fail, 

 solely through the attacks of the gooseberry-fly, the dark 

 grey grubs of which are so plentiful and voracious. These 

 grubs are very pleasing to the sparrow's palate though, by 

 the way, it seems rather strange that a bird should have any 

 particular sense of taste, considering the formation of its 

 mouth and the substances on which it feeds and accordingly 

 are killed in great numbers by that indefatigable bird. For 

 many successive days the sparrows may be seen filling their 

 beaks with gooseberry grubs, and bearing them off to their 

 young. 



" The wire worm, again a pest that is perhaps more 

 universally dreaded than any other of the insect tribes is 

 a favourite food of the sparrow ; and it has been well calcu- 

 lated that, though the sparrow is said to eat a bushel of 

 corn annually, it saves a quarter by its depredations among 

 the insects. The sparrow, in fact, has recourse to that most 

 effectual system for ridding the plants of the destructive 

 insects which, when performed by man, is termed * hand- 

 picking,' but which cannot be achieved by man with one 

 hundredth part of the success that attends the bird." 



The sparrow hates cats. When the poultry are whistled 

 together at feeding times, numerous small birds join the 

 dinner party. Pussy then creeps up and hides herself 

 amongst the hungry group, by this time quite used to her 

 tactics. Watching her opportunity, she suddenly darts upon 

 her victim, which she stealthily carries off in her mouth, 

 returning warily again to the charge. Taking advantage of 

 this, the most effective way to scare birds from fruit trees is 



