FRUIT DESTROYERS AND 

 GARDEN PESTS 



BIRDS 



There is scarcely anji;hing more vexatious to the gardener who sees 

 his fruit on the point of coming to perfection and is beginning to 

 congratulate himself on the result of the labour and attention he 

 has so freely bestowed, than to find that his expectations are being 

 falsified by the ravages of the birds, for not only are their depre- 

 dations serious in their results but they seem doubly anno5ang from 

 the fact that the achievement aimed at is so nearly accomplished. 



It is no uncommon occurrence, for instance, to find 

 Provokmg ^jj^^ ^jjg cherry tree, watched with such interest during 

 '^ '* the last few days because of its fruit being so nearly 



ready to pick, has been almost denuded in a single night — or, to be 

 more exact, during one early morning — by a flight of starlings. But 

 the mischief done by birds is not confined to their depredations on 

 ripe fruit; the peckmg out of the fresh green buds on the gooseberry 

 bush and the nipping of the succulent young leaves of the early pea 

 are examples of the havoc that they can make in the spring. As 

 regards the young fruit-buds, the finches — bullfinches, pre-eminently 

 — are the worst offenders in country districts, but the ubiquitous 

 sparrows are nearly as bad. Their attacks on the gooseberry bush 

 are particularly disastrous. No sooner do the yoimg buds appear 

 than the birds peck out all they can conveniently reach, not only 

 destro5dng the chances of fruit for the season but seriously endanger- 

 ing the life of the bush. Doubtless one of the best methods of 



protection is to plant all the fruit bushes within a 

 D^ce certain area and enclose the whole with small meshed 



wire-netting, but in a garden of small dimensions such 

 a plan is unsightly and inconvenient. Fortunately there are other 

 means of defence which, if not so absolutelyeffective, are lessexpensive 



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