406 Some Notes on the Food oe Birds. [oct., 



He threatens the utter destruction of our strawberry, rasp- 

 berry, cherry, gooseberry, and currant and some other crops. 

 The birds are said to come to us from the marshes as soon as 

 the young are hatched, and they come in millions, in flocks that 

 darken the sky. Their flight is like the roar of the sea or like 

 a train going over the arches. Their number increases rapidly 

 each year. I can look back to the time when there were few 

 and have watched their increase for forty years till now it is 

 intolerable. They clear off the crop of a field or two in a day 

 like the locusts, and pollute the woods where they lodge." 

 In two replies observers mention having seen starlings eating 

 looper caterpillars. 



Missel Thrush. — In Kent this bird has acquired the habit 

 of eating pears, apples, and plums in addition to cherries. 

 Being an early breeder and finding a secure nesting place in 

 parks and woods, the young are just ready for the cherries 

 and swoop down in thousands on the orchards ; it is nearly as 

 destructive as the blackbird, but rather easier to frighten. 

 It eats berries of many kinds, including the black currant, which 

 most birds avoid, and also damsons. It does no harm except 

 in fruit time, its food at other times being worms, insects, and 

 the berries of yew, mountain ash, and holly. 



Song Thrush. — This bird is useful as an insect and snail 

 destroyer and eats large quantities of worms, but is partial to 

 cherries, particularly in dry weather when natural food is hard 

 to get, and also eats strawberries, red currants, and ripe goose- 

 berries. It is said to eat raspberry weevils. 



Greenfinch. — This is a terrible pest among hops, pulling the 

 cone to pieces for seeds, it also eats newly sown and sprouting 

 seeds of i:urnip, radish, and ripe corn. It pecks buds of goose- 

 berry, plum, and pear to a considerable extent, but not as badly 

 as the sparrow and bullfinch. In its habits it is very similar to the 

 chaffinch except that it eats very few insects and is if anything 

 more destructive to sprouting crops. It is a great weed eater. 



Chaffinch. — This bird eats various kinds of larvae, green fly, 

 &c, but like the sparrow pecks buds off red currants and goose- 

 berries and is very destructive to freshly sown and sprouting 

 crops, such as turnips, radish, lettuce; salsify, peas, &c. It 

 bites off the blossoms of cherries and plums, presumably to get 

 the honey. It destroys large numbers of caterpillars that live on 



