56 
BIRDS IN A VILLAGE. 
the thrushes and blackbirds, were inflamed at the 
gleam of crimson colour among the leaves. In the 
very large orchards men and boys were stationed 
all day long yelling and firing off guns to frighten 
the marauders. In the smaller orchards the trees 
were decorated with whirligigs of coloured paper; 
ancient hats, among which were some of the 
quaintly shaped chimneypots of a past generation ; 
old coats and waistcoats and trousers, and rags of 
all colours to flutter in the wind ; and these objects 
were usually considered a sufficient protection. 
Some of the birds, wiser than their fellows, were 
not to be kept back by such simple means; but 
so long as they came not in battalions, but singly, 
they could have their fill, and no notice was taken 
of them. 
I was surprised to hear that on the large planta- 
tions the men employed were not allowed to use 
shot, the aim of the fruit-growers being only to 
scare the birds away. I had a talk with my old 
friend of the wryneck on the subject, and told him 
that I had seen one of the bird-scarers going home 
to his cottage very early in the morning, carrying 
a bunch of about a dozen blackbirds and thrushes 
he had just shot. 
Yes, he replied, some of the men would buy shot 
and use it early in the morning before their master 
was about; but if the man I had seen had been 
