BIRDS AND FRUITS.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3060, 5 December 1878, Page 1

BIRDS AND FRUITS.

The controversy between bird-killers and bird-preservers renews itself from time to time. Neither party to the dispute sees that there is maeb to be said on both sides of the question. We need not accuse the " Country Parson," your correspondent, of cruelty for desiring that which nature if let alone effects—viz., a reduction of numbers. However, it may be as to plants and trees, which do seem to be encroachers sometimes on the general rights of, common of their congeners, yet birds and beastsjn, general keep up their proportionate nunj^rs'iß^i state of nature. Danger^ like age, teaches birds wariness and eratfjents., The monkeys are thought to exc^T.'in cunning, yet I can report ODe instance'from my own observation of birds baffling monkeys. I had .•een, in my garden,'jjji lndia the tailor-bird building in,a low bush, an hibiscus, within, the reachiof rioy> passer. It knew itself to be seeore there. Some time after this I was in Penang on a- visit to a gentlemen there who owned and cultivated extensive nutmeg plantations. One morning; when I was walking with him in his plantation, he pointed out to me many nests of the tailor-bird in a particular tree, seemingly from its thin provision of leaves and their small size but ill suited for nidificaticn, and he asked me if I knew why they had built there. I replied that I did not. He directed my attention to - some hornets' nests on the tree, which I had also observed, and said, " That is the reason ; the birds fear the monkeys, and the monkeys the hornets ; but the birds and the hornets are not enemies; therefore the birds build where they know the monkeys will fear, to come." Our birds, if, molested in one garden, take shelter in another, and neither sparrow- clubs nor cats much reduce their numbers. It would require a general conspiracy against the Passeres and the blackbirds to deprive us naturalists in posse of our pleasures. ' Nevertheless, as a lover also ot gardens and fruit, I think I can suggest to the .".Country Parson" some diminution of his loss. Those who grow vegetables and fruit for the markets calculate their losses by mice and birds as deductions from returns; the "grower for his own table should'do the same. Unless he is care- , less, hieT loss will be about the same 1 proportionately, and he will plant' accordingly. The birds do not specially spite any .{gardener, yet some talk as did a quondam judge, now deceased, who declared that he had gone in the Summer Term to Westminster by water for twenty years and had never once had the tide in his favor. This proportion, not large in itself, may be reduced by a little thought and care. The reason why sparrows destroy so many peas is because gardeners .will persist iri giving the thieves, hiding-places. The peas are planted* in tows so' close together that no-one walking in the garden can see what is .going on in the jungle .of the intertwining rows. It is almost too much for the cat to enter. Let the peas be planted five feet apart, and facing a walk frequented, and the birds will be much less at liberty to feed. A garden cat not pampered is a bore to the sparrows ; they will keep their distance. I have seen a cat chained by the strawberry beds. Aa to the summer fruit, it can tie protected readily enough and at little cost. As it is, two or' three currant bushes are matted, and the fruit is secure. By a very little management the dessert fruit may be saved.. A wire skeleton frame will cost less than a gun. I sea this mode successfully pursued in a garden near me. As such an erection is removable, and will last with care many years, the original cost should be calculated over the period, and it Tvill soon be found clearing itself. The summer fruits which require protection from birds' are currants, red and white, strawberries, and cherries. The black currants, gooseberries, and raspberries need it not; but even' they may share the protection I speak of. In the country, stakes may be got at a small cost. Two or three for centre-pieces, and others arranged at the side like espaliers, will, with some yards of purchased netting, either wire or common, and a little rude carpentering, make an enclosure large enough to gr,ow -strawberries, currants, and cherries ; the latter should be dwarf trees trained, and the currants, etc., should be trained standard-like, and fastened like espalier trees to the fencing. All the fruit which is meant to be eaten ripe be included in this plot; the fruit for pies, bottling; etc-, which is used unripe, will need no protection. Consequently a space no larger than a moderate sized orchard house will suffice, if it be economically dealt with and space be not lost. The fig trees here are invaded, but never stripped. Those * who grow for the markets, or who are particular about the fruit, save it readily enough. It costs a little labor, nothing more; and the ladies of a family can easly make a few bags for either grapes or figs. I grow my fig trees for foliage only, and therefore do not take any care of the fruit; but my gardener never loses a third of the whole. What is worth doing is always worth doing well, and if men will set their wits to work they will baffle the birds as the birds baffled the monkeys.—Laurence Peel (Wroxall, Isle of Wight).