160 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



multiply, in consequence of the humane attitude which the public has 

 definitely adopted towards them. The mischief which the Sparrow does 

 is always exasperating in spring ; but the Greenfinch, who deliberately 

 tears off the blooms from primroses which grow in shady shrubberies, 

 as the Sparrow does from those that grow in the open, might be just 

 as bad if he were equally numerous. The Hawfinch, who was an 

 extremely rare bird thirty years ago, has become too familiar in many 

 places as the arch destroyer of green peas. Crossbills, still regarded 

 in most parts of the country as interesting rarities, are shot at sight in 

 others on account of their absurdly wasteful trick of destroying apples 

 in order to get at the pips. 



" There are black marks even in the records of the most useful birds, 

 and, when these multiply, the mischief which they do seems to increase 

 by leaps and bounds out of all proportion to the mere growth of their 

 numbers. In every corner of the country now you hear that the Eook, 

 the " farmer's friend," has fallen into evil ways since he began to 

 multiply ; and even the Tits, whose general utility in a garden is un- 

 deniable, are anathematized by fruit-growers on account of their habit 

 of spoiling quantities of fruit by pecking a hole in each near the stalk. 

 For this damage the often-recommended device of putting pans of 

 water near the trees, with the idea that it is thirst only which impels 

 them to attack fruit, seems no preventive, and the only effective strata- 

 gem seems to be to enclose each fruit in a bag, or to protect it with a 

 disc of paper round the stalk. But when one considers the average 

 price which a grower obtains for his fruit, one realizes how heavily 

 handicapped he would be if he had to adopt either of these devices 

 against the Tits. The wholesale damage done by Starlings in cherry 

 orchards, and the ravages of many kinds of birds among the bush-fruit 

 and strawberries, are well known to everybody ; but only observant 

 gardeners are able to distinguish between the degrees of mischief pro- 

 perly attributable to the different kinds. When, for instance, you find 

 that, as is often the case, boys are encouraged to destroy the nests of 

 Blackbirds and Thrushes indiscriminately in order to protect the fruit, 

 you have proof of ignorance. The Blackbird is undoubtedly more 

 mischievous than useful in a garden during the summer, from the 

 fruit-grower's point of view, but the reverse is the case with the Thrush. 

 It is only in drought, when snails are hard to find, that the Thrush 

 will raid the fruit ; but, when fruit is ripening, the Blackbird will 

 always leave the work of hunting for slugs and worms in order to feast 

 upon it. Year in, year out, the more Thrushes you can have in a fruit 

 or vegetable garden the better. — E. K, R." 



