A Query About the Blackbird Is not the blackbird becoming
too abundant 2 Certainly in my garden blackbirds outnumber the song-thrushes with their more delicate constitu- tion by at least ten to one. And I am sure they are less insectivorous and far more fruitarian than other Turdidae, and as such are becoming a real menace to the fruit-grower. Nine of them flew hysterically out of my vine the other morning, and each one can swallow 20 grapes to the minute. They are adepts at squeezing under strawberry nets, and this autumn I have lost about a quarter of my choicest apples to (so far as I could judge) them alone. They have an exasperating habit of taking one peck and moving on to the next. The most humane method of coping with the raiders is to remove the garden nests before the eggs are laid and so drive the birds back to the hedgerows.
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