NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
217 
I have, therefore, answered Mr. Crofton’s question, but please allow me to 
add, that notwithstanding the fact of the animal destroying these precious 
pheasants’ eggs and young, there is no doubt it does much more good than harm. 
October by 1900. W. Percivai. Wicsteu., M. H.O.U. 
I cannot prove that hedgehogs eat young pheasants, but I know they eat young 
chickens, having caught Mr. Prickles in the act, as related in A Mendip Valley. 
IVinscombe, Somerset. Theodore Compton. 
A Plague of Blackbirds. — In your September issue, under the above title 
you print a complaint from a correspondent. In it he speaks of the loss of fruit 
caused by the depredations of blackbirds and thrushes, and lays the blame upon 
the “ Protection ” Act. He may be right in so doing, but may I suggest what 
I believe to be a remedy. As an amateur gardener I, like Mr. Iliam, have lost 
fruit, bu.sh fruit especially, and in a smaller degree pears and plums, and have given 
some thought to the problem how to save them. This year I think I have found 
its solution. I always noticed that the fruit disappeared most in hot, dry weather, 
and I thought whether thirst on the part of the birds may not have had something 
to do with it. So this spring, very early, I constructed an artificial pond some 
four feet deep and twelve or thirteen feet in circumference, composed of cemented 
brick-clinkers, and covered the sides (it is raised two feet from the ground) with 
periwinkle and creeping plants. I filled it with fresh water, and introduced a 
good variety of pond life and pond weeds in order to keep it fresh. It was 
scarcely finished before it began to be appreciated by the plentiful bird-life of the 
neighbourhood. It is situated opposite my’ summer-house door, and sitting there 
on warm afternoons, actually hundreds come (in twos and threes at a time) to 
drink in the course of two or three hours. There is no water that I am aware 
of (for I live on a hillside) nearer than the river, half a mile away, so possibly 
many of my visitors come from some distance. But what about the fruit? Well, 
I think I may say I have lost little or none. I never before had so little trouble 
with birds. So my contention that thirst is to a great extent the cause of fruit 
destruction seems to be correct. 
I may say that I add four or five gallons of water daily in hot weather to 
allow for evaporation and consumption. I propose erecting a second pond or 
basin next year in another spot in my half-acre garden. Wdl Mr. Iliam try the 
experiment and communicate the results after a season’s experience? 
Ivy Lodge, Bishop's Stortford, Herts. W. B. Gerish. 
Remarkably tame Robins. — While visiting the home of friends at 
Pontrhydyrun, Monmouthshire, in the summer, I had the pleasure of seeing, I 
might almost say, of handling, some of the tamest robins I have ever seen or heard 
of. I think it has been recorded in Nature Notes that robins have come near 
and even on, the tea table of a garden party, but these robins went much further, 
or rather, came much nearer than that. While I was sitting one day on a rustic 
bench under a laurel bush, I felt something tapping on my boot, and there was 
“ Bobby ” close to my foot, looking up and almost asking for his dinner. I tried 
several times to induce him to take crumbs from my hand, but tbough I did not 
succeed in this, he frequently took them from the seat when I was sitting there, 
within six inches of my hand, before he moved away. One day he attacked the 
gardener’s pudding plate, when the latter was having his dinner on the seat. I 
was told that the previous year some very young robins sometimes took crumbs 
from the inside of the ladies’ umbrellas held upside down, and also from their 
shoes over which the crumbs were sprinkled. It is possible that this grown up 
robin was one of these, whose memory carried him back to the feeding ground of 
younger days. If so, it would perhaps partly explain the tapping on my boot. 
Under such circumstances, who would want a bird in a cage? You may have 
them as near to you, and also much tamer than many small birds pent up in a 
cage : they are much more interesting in their natural state ; they need no atten- 
tion, and give no trouble : you may have them almost wherever you want them, 
by calling, or even without : they sing within two feet of your head : they follow 
you from tree to tree as you walk round the garden : they fly across your path, 
almost brushing you with their wings ; they hop across your feet ; and last, though 
