A REAL FRIEND.
(By a Dunedin Naturalist.)
We tamed a pair of tomtits this winter, and this month (September) they nested across the road in a neighbour’s garden, and for three weeks I have not seen the hen. A part of our garden is dug every day so as to feed the male bird, and I keep a special feed tin in which to put the grass grubs and other insects as they are dug up, and our little friend comes along and empties it in good time. One Sunday I put 15 grass grubs in the tin and timed him. In exactly 30 minutes he had utilised all the grubs. Of these about one in three he ate, the others he took to the hen, which is perhaps a greater share than most husbands give to their wives. The following Saturday I was all day in the garden and counted the grubs actually given the bird as he followed me around. He took 43 from me, apart from those he found on his own account. When one observes that he has a regular round of about six gardens you can realise what a big bit of good one good little bird can do.
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Forest and Bird, Issue 28, 1 October 1932, Page 7
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204A REAL FRIEND. Forest and Bird, Issue 28, 1 October 1932, Page 7
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