JURDS IN THE FIELD AND GARDEN 189 
circumstances wherever he may happen to be, that it is difti- 
cult to classify him under any particular head as regards his 
tliet. Much has been written for him and against him, and 
he is, outside our towns and cities, generally regarded as the 
enemy of mankind. That he, in common with the finches, 
and the mainly insectivorous tit, develops a liking for fruit- 
buds, we will not dispute, and his appetite for corn is well known 
to the agriculturist ; but for him also we could urge a point 
in his favour, taking into consideration that as a set-off against 
his evil deeds he destroys many grubs and noxious insects in 
addition to the seeds of hurtful plants. 
The tit family, which belongs to the insectivorous group, 
is one which vexes the gardener considerably so far as three 
of its members — the great tit, the coal-tit and the blue or “ tom-” 
tit — are concerned. The crime urged against them is also 
chiefly in connection with the buds, although it has been con- 
tended that the tit only visits or tampers with those buds that 
contain an injurious insect, and which therefore would in any 
case prove unproductive. The contention is somewhat diffi- 
cult to uphold, seeing that the bud is destroyed in the operation 
and all trace of the insect’s presence is removed ; and whether 
the tit’s instinct enables him to know which bud contains an 
insect and which does not, so that he is never liable to destroy 
one of the latter, is a point upon which one is a little afraid of 
offering opinion. But even if we grant that the tit, like the 
finches, takes toll of the fruit-buds, we have much to urge in 
the wav of compensation for this misdemeanour. The tits are 
quite the busiest and most industrious of all birds. One has 
only to watch them at their work to be convinced of the wori- 
derful amount that they must get through in the course of their 
busy lives. They are apparently never idle, and never pause 
in their endless hunt for insects e.xcept to fly from one tree to 
the other. Their sharp little eyes search out everj- nook and 
cranny, and woe betide the insect that comes within their keen 
vision and in. reach of the small but merciless beak. 
The thrush tribe, of which the two most familiar members 
are the blackbird and the common song-thrush, are two of the 
gardener’s greatest friends during the major portion of the year. 
For a brief period only do they trespass amongst the fruit, and 
no gardener should grudge the trouble entailed in netting straw- 
berries, raspberries, and currants as a protection against these 
lovers of fruit. During the rest of the year the gardener de- 
rives incalculable benefit from their handiwork amongst the 
slugs, snails, and grubs that would otherwise be impossible to 
deal with ; and were he able to draw up an imaginary balance 
sheet he would doubtless find that the cost of netting his fruit 
for a few weeks in the summer is as nothing compared to the 
saving effected through the agency of the birds. 
