EGBERTS : ploughman's BIRDS.. , 4 J 



vated. In my neighbourliood Cockchafers are happily nnfrequent. The Eook 

 has some credit for destroying wire worms, hut I may just remark that wire- 

 worms are by no means easy to capture, for they are generally either below 

 the surface, or quickly out of sight when uncovered by the plough. When 

 on the ground the Hook both walks and hops. 



Starling. Starlings approach the field in companies, or flocks, and 

 -very frequently accompany the Eooks. When feeding they keep up a sort of 

 :half whistling, half chattering concert, which is not disagreable to listen to. 

 They feed largely on ground larvse, worms, &c., but they are very annoying 

 •; to the gardener in summer ; their fondness for cherries is excessive. They 

 ikeep together in numerous companies at all times of the year. Two nests 

 ■ that I have known this season had three old ones each. 



Sparrows. The Sparrows accompany the ploughman in spring, but 

 they are much more constant and numerous in autumn, when grain and the 

 ■seeds of weeds are mixed with the soil. They approach the field with great 

 ■noise and ceremony, and are very erratic and hurried in their manners, con- 

 stantly changing their position, and flying up, generally alighting on the 

 i topmost branches of the nearest hedge. Their flight is short, and somewhat 

 llaboured. The depredations they commit in the newly sown barley fields in 

 spring, and in the harvest fields in autumn are very extensive. They enter 

 the wheat fields in immense flocks, and only move from one part of the field 

 i to another when the bird-boy scares them with his rattle.- Sparrows can 

 I cling to, and balance themselves on the slender upright ears of corn, and bill 

 \ the contents out ; this is a performance which I have never seen any other 

 \ bird attempt. When doing so much corn is knocked on to the ground and 

 wasted. All kinds of grain are attacked by the marauders, both at the time 

 of sowing, and when it is ripe. These destructive habits render the sparrow 

 one of the greatest annoyances the cultivator of the soil has to contend 

 with. 



Chaffinch. The Chaffinch is often an associate of the ploughman. It 

 does not pursue the newly made furrow, searching methodically as it goes 

 along like the Wagtail, but hops across the furrows, and seeks among the 

 ground that is ploughed; it prefers feeding on the level ground after harrows; 

 . it does much damage in spring by picking up the newly sown barley ; it has 

 sa propensity for the seeds of cruciferous plants, and it is almost impossible to 

 preserve the seed of cabbage, turnip, or rape, when it is ripening, from its 

 t attacks. It generally wastes a great deal by shaking the dry, and partly 

 opened pods. Its habit of pulling up young growing plants to get at and 



