IUDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



201 



place last year in that widely- circulated 

 Paper the Gardeners' Chronicle— between 

 men of veracity and repute. We will print 

 the letters in an abridged form, in the exact 

 order in which they appeared ; and using the 

 words of a Barrister, say—" Gentlemen of 

 the Jury— that is our Case." 



British Song Birds: a Source of Mischief as 

 well as Entertainment.— I have read with much 

 pleasure, though no bird-fancier, the many arti- 

 cles published in the Gardeners' Chronicle, from 

 the able pen of Mr. Kidd ; but with much more 

 interest have I read the various statements on 

 " thick and thin seed sowing," put forward from 

 time to time in the Agricultural Gazette. I 

 have been, for a long time, a disciple of the thin 

 seeding school, and always, till this season, per- 

 manently successful in this species of domestic 

 economy. However, I am doomed I fear, with 

 many others, to pay dear for the whistle of sky- 

 larks, who are destroying the young corn in the 

 germ, as we Irish say, " out of a face." So full 

 of effrontery are they, they will not yield an inch 

 to the bird-watcher's rattle or creak, pebbles 

 from his sling, blank cartridge, nor even well- 

 loaded and primed musketry shots, till actually 

 slain; which in my case, would require a man on 

 every rood of land, of which I have now sown 

 over 300 acres, and expect to have 500 moro 

 sown still before the 1st of May. I have sown 

 spring Wheats with from 42 lbs. to 70 lbs. per 

 acre; Oats with from 70 lbs. to 84 lbs. per acre, 

 and Barley I hope to sow in the same proportion 

 as Oats, and would be certain of success, as far 

 as an abundance of plants would insure success, 

 but for the ravages of the larks. As I can devise 

 no means of arresting their depredations, hence- 

 forward I must, as in duty bound, advise a dis- 

 continuance of spring corn sowing, lay some 

 hundreds of acres down under Grass for sheep 

 and cattle feeding, and throw on the poor-rates 

 for support some thousands of able-bodied and 

 willing laborers now employed cultivating these 

 crops, all by spade husbandry. „To avert this 

 evil, would it be too much Jor me to expect from 

 Mr. Kidd, or any other of your excellent cor- 

 respondents, such instructions as will enable me, 

 by reasonable means, to defeat the deadly efforts 

 of these desperate larks to render our plagues in 

 this respect worse by far than those produced by 

 the Potato disease? — A Shilmalier, March 20th, 

 1851. 



A Merciful Plea for the Skylark. — A Shilma- 

 lier who, in the last number of the Agricultural 

 Gazette, takes up the cudgels so unmercifully 

 against my good friend the skylark, for feasting 

 on his young growing Wheat, is yet so courteous 

 whilst speaking of myself and of my writings, 

 that I cannot but reply to his invocation of my 

 aid with marked civility and attention, at least. 

 To combat his views at any length in a news- 

 paper, with a pen nimble as mine, would be an 

 impracticable matter. My arguments, fairly 

 urged, would occupy half your whole space ! 

 However, let your desponding correspondent 

 join me some fine Sunday morning in my walk 

 to church —either to Acton, Ealing, Kew, or 



Richmond. As we saunter along, with corn 

 fields on our right and left, the " object " of our 

 discourse shall be before us, behind us, on each, 

 side of us, and " above " us. His loud, happy, 

 joyous " Thrr-upp ! thrrr-upp ! " shall greet us at 

 every step; and as he rises, poised on air, 

 leisurely to chant his hymn of praise to the Cre- 

 ator, in a voice of pure, clear melody, soaring 

 aloft till " Heaven's gate " opens to give entrance 

 to his anthem — then will we together plan the 

 readiest means to bring about his destruction; 

 then devise how best wo can blow him and all 

 his fraternity to pieces — with hollow iron tubes. 

 'Twere indeed a project worthy of us both; for 

 we arc both men, and born no doubt with com- 

 mon feelings of humanity. I grant your corre- 

 spondent has some cause for complaint; but so 

 have all we busy mercantile mortals pent up in 

 London, when those gigantic, Mammoth organs 

 " play up " before our doors, in office hours. 

 The hideous, unearthly noises belched forth from 

 these " infernal machines," do fearful damage to 

 the human frame. They are indeed far more 

 than a fair " set off" to the ravages inflicted by 

 the larks. Yet have we no redress, save to 

 laugh "in spite of our teeth." Let your corre- 

 spondent do the same, and his sorrows over the 

 trials of life will sit lighter. I could with 

 ease propose an efficient remedy for the destruc- 

 tion of larks, but it would be inconsistent with my 

 duty — irreconcileable with my avowed principles. 

 Let A Shilmalier wait patiently until Christmas. 

 He will then have full revenge. Two- thirds, 

 perhaps, of the skylarks which now torment him, 

 and unbidden share his bounty, will be found 

 slaughtered; lying " cheek by jowl" in the poul- 

 terers' window, and awaiting the still further 

 indignity of a wooden skewer, which will most 

 assuredly be run through each one of their 

 individual gizzards. In declining to assist A 

 Shilmalier, I do so — not rudely, but deprecat- 

 ingly. I seek to make a "convert" of him. 

 What will he say when I come to treat of the 

 Skylark, and write his " Natural History" in my 

 "Treatise on British Song Birds?"— W. Kidd, 

 New Road, Hammersmith, April 3, 1851. 



Skylarks. — The skylarks, let me again say, 

 have been destroying and continue to destroy 

 my spring crops of Wheat, Rye, Barley, Oats, 

 Beans, Peas, and Vetches, and the fact of their 

 so doing Avill produce another fact, that I must 

 discontinue such spring sowings if I can devise 

 no means of arresting their deadly depredations. 

 And another fact will be the result — that very 

 many able-bodied laborers and their families 

 will be denied that employment which would 

 keep them out of the poor-houses here, or perhaps 

 swamping your labor-market in England, or 

 your pauper markets, if I may use the expression, 

 towards the large cities and towns throughout 

 " happy " England, where " unhappy " Irishmen 

 are wont to congregate. How on earth could 

 Mr. Kidd, even with his nimble pen, fertile brain, 

 facetious turn, and elegant style, combat all 

 these, whilst he, with a humanity which all must 

 admire, denies me the reasonable advice which 

 I respectfully sought of him ? I look forward 

 with much interest to Mr. Kidd's " Treatise," 

 which is to contain the natural history of the 



