AN EFFECTUAL BIRD SCARE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1740, 14 January 1888, Page 3

AN EFFECTUAL BIRD SCARE.

" A.H K." recently wrote aa follows to a Dunedin paper : My strawberries have been regularly picked by different sorts of birds which are about breeding and hoter- j Ing ln tbe surroundipg bushes a. my I garden,, some perhaps cowing a distance. Of young pianta whloh promised a most luxuriant return of fruit, but had little foliage, I could not secure a single berry, ail nearly ripe ones being partly destroyed by the birds, whloh go In queßt of food immediately after daybreak. I ecqulred fV>r and tried several schemes to prevent the birds taking the crop, but none ouo* ceeded except one, and this I got by aooident. One day I partly oovered a few rich bearing plants by small pleoea of common window glass, and soon after had the satisfaction to see this fruit coming on all right ; hut I also notloed a general absenoe of the friendly sparrows, starlings, etc., at all ti_.es of the day, I came to the conclusion that the rdbotlon of the glass caus.d by t*e sua or daylight scared the birds. I followed un thia discovery by a further espc^ruent. I uncovered the formerly covered plants, and plaoed < Instead about 18 .trips of oommon window K.asß, varying m a!_j. from 1 lnoh to 3 Inches broad, and from 4 Inches to 9 | Inohes long (ja.t snob waste strips as the gltaler throws away as useless), m divers B'antint; positions We and there am<>ng tbi. plaits I used altogether about two square feet of glass The resu't is astonishing. Not only are my strawberries pt-rooitted to ripen aud allow a dally gathering, but, Indeed, not a bird comes Into my garden now ; they are to be seen on the housetops close by and on. the trees, but they will not co-aa down to visit or settle The several families of starlings whloh were allowed to breed under the roof of the houae seem to have left m dltguat. Observing suoh good results, I ask myself the question — Would this discovery do nny good to the farmers with respect to the email bird pe.t and the oropa la general ? It might. I think If piooen of oommon glass, held by wire, were distributed In a field of grain m suoh a way freely to dangle and twirl about, suspended as it were from a fishing rod, a g )od and efficient blrdsoare w >uld be produced. The glitter and flashes from the glass are constant, and; probably painful to the birds' eyes, tha same as the flash oi a piece of looking glass la to the human eye. Let some of the farmera try this plan and report on It. The cost is nothing, and the benefit may be great. I enclose my card for any possible enquirers and as a, voucher for an unea^ggerated statement of faot.