BIRDS AND AGRICULTURE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 269, 12 October 1875, Page 4

BIRDS AND AGRICULTURE.

7> 7 (Corjihili Magazine.) *7;7"7'."*j*3?h» last kite seen in Lincolnshire about 1860. We have only yy witnessed their magnificent hoveriogs 7 , rs srt4j:great stretch of wing in South 7;7 sfaieß» Ra*"ggns ore banished to the y 7 higher mountains like Helvellyn, aud to the moat ioacoeaaable sea cliffs. Others, , 7tf|ch as the snowy owl or Egyptian 7".77;7*!irqit'Bre,'" are at the beat of timea very rare visitors, aud only driven to us by stress of weather. The eagles, buz--7 aardß,audalaioat all the larger birds of 7 7 prey are rapidly seeking the farthest 7 corners of the laud. The chough is extinct, save in a few favored localities 7y<pf* f the West. Game-preserving and ' : y:yWQ&stn agriculture do not harmonize . with their presence. Tha readiest way of finding auy of the raptores in the country is to seek tbe nearest wood; and there enogly sheltered at the end 7of a dewy " ride," across which pheasants strut aud rabbits skip, and where . "chequered gleams of sunshine rest Upon thg herbage. Oo a gibbet over a > rW of/weasies and village cats which ... have taken to poaching courses, dangles another series of criminals, owls, hawks, magpies, bossards, &c, murdered by . strychnine, or shot during the keeper's • -rounds, aud hung up for an example to their marauding brethren, and in order f that their slayer may claim blood-money of his employer. Many a lesson in ornithology may be taken at such spots, as the ichthyologist eagerly scans the mackerel seines for the treasures drawa up ia them from the Devon seas after the hundreds of opaline mackerel have Vboeo taken out, and the worthless trash, as the fishermen deem it, flung aside. Ifc is incredible iiow high fsrmiog will change the avifauna of a dia- ■'■ triet. A few years may indeed see a . barren moorland smiling with corncrops, but they will also banish or exterminate many epeoies of birds. Thirty years ago a distriot in Lincolnshire midway between ihe wolds and , tho Ida-marshes abounded with all the commoner birds. Jackdaws haunted 7* the cburoh towers, owls hovered over 7 the stacks, hawks sailed over the hedgerows and startled magpies chattering "underneath ihemoVer some unhappy soft billed bird which had fallen into their yy clutches. Suddenly steam threshing /*. y raaohines, followed in ,.. djie time by f^^is^^-plb-BghS;* came into vogue; newffYWi^oAeea about aattipg.dd wri timber aod pltahiog hedges to regulation height 7 -^ and ry- ' "'*" ■ ■ - ;-'.* 'if-: ,', fY-' '_ ■■-' 7 .';' . * ,'-' '- , '" '

the face of the oountry haviog thus been transformed into the neatest series of "clean", fields that can be Sound even in that agricultural conntry, tha birds departed along with summer greenery and May hawthorn blossoms. Owing to the destruction of the thistles, ragwort, &c , on whose seeds the goldfinch loves i to feed, this bird is now very rarely seen in the district. As much corn was planted, it naturally had to be "tented," so the nearest urchin who was too lazy to go to school and too small to drive a plough was placed amongst it armed with a rusty fowling-piece, and striot injunctions were given him to shoot at every feather he could see. Consequently all the larger birds were massacred and the smaller, ones frightened out of the district. As their nesting coverts in the high hedges had been cut away, there was uo temptation for the latter to return. Beyond a few flights of larks and peewits, and the saucy sparrows of the stackyards, a bird-lover may here wander through silent fields without being gladdened by the presence of his feathered friends. Even sparrows are slain by hundreds in some benighted, parishes under the auspices of the local sparrow club, or the magnates of the vestry meeting. Doubtless such shortsighted wisdom will bring its own .punishment. Increased insect ravages may compel the next generation to atone their fathers* misdeeds by importing tlie very birds which the latter so ruthlessly destroyed. Iv thesft favored regions, however, lia the farmers' Elysiaa fields— "Everything so quiet! none o' them noisy budsl small fences for 'untiag, and no trees to shade tbe wuis l M