120 Preserving Green Peas from Birds. 



I found that the former was invariably attacked in preference to 

 the latter, so that I conclude that if the simple means alluded 

 to were adopted, our crops of green peas might be preserved 

 uninjured. Many, no doubt, will object to this plan, oh the 

 score that it is absurd to feed such destructive enemies to our 

 crops; but when it is known that, with the exception of the 

 bulfinch, the most of birds frequenting our gardens are more 

 useful than otherwise, the objection will be overcome. The 

 good they do as scavengers, and in destroying insects, far out- 

 weighs the thefts they commit ; and surely their presence adds 

 much to the living beauty of a garden. 



I may mention that bee-keepers have a grudge against the 

 large titmouse, on the ground that he eats their bees. I can- 

 not clear him from this charge, still I think it is exaggerated. 

 Mr. Mudie says, " the birds hawk for insects upon the wing ; 

 they catch bees in that way, and also hover about and pick them 

 up when they are busy in the nectaries of flowers." In vain 

 have I tried to ascertain if that be fact. I question if the bird 

 attacks bees at all, except in winter, when the weather is severe. 

 He may at that season be seen hovering about apiaries, picking 

 up the dead bees ; and when hard pressed, he has the slyness 

 to rap at the entrance of the hives, and snap up the inmates as 

 they appear. 



But, to return to my subject, the plan mentioned will not 

 keep off' the thievish jays from peas. Shooting or trapping must 

 be resorted to. When caught, it is useless to hang them up, 

 with the view of frightening away their neighbours, for they 

 will perch close beside the dead : neither is the cruel plan of 

 leaving a bird screeching all day in a trap of any use ; indeed, it 

 only brings more to see what is amiss. The jay, though a shy 

 bird, is not frightened, like the rook, by this barbarous plan. All 

 kinds of birds soon get used to scarecrows. I differ from those 

 that put faith in coloured yarn being a suue one. 



I have forbade the bulfinch a place in the garden, because he 

 destroys the buds of trees and bushes, and does nothing I am 

 aware of to compensate for such a loss. This is not the case 

 with the house sparrow ; it is astonishing the quantity of cater- 

 pillars he destroys. In the breeding season, it is said, that a 

 pair of these birds will destroy 3,4-00 in a week. If I am not 

 mistaken, some assert that the bulfinch only attacks buds for 

 the insects they contain, but the havoc he commits is certainly 

 too great to allow of this idea. Still I am of opinion that he 

 only attacks buds when seeds, his favourite food, are scarce. 

 Some blame the sparrow and the large titmouse for picking out 

 the bud of gooseberries, but this I never could discover. Dur- 

 ing last February, the buds of my gooseberry bushes were 



