GREEDY Bums.
The vigour of the birds this autumn is remarkable and delightful, especially when expressed in song, but has certain drawbacks. Tits in my garden spend the day in flying from pear to pear on our big old tree, and taking out-tit-bits (with apologies for the word) from each. It is an odd sight to see a blue tit disturb a little group of wasps, which fly round about some damaged fruit till the tit has done, and then settle down to finish the work he has begun. Never before have I known birds to attack vegetables with such ruthless vigour. The season has enabled us to grow green peas of much excellence thus late in the year, but about every third pod is ripped open and the peas extracted. In a normal way the most thorough- going pea-eaters are jays and hawfinehes—neither very common varieties. -This year the- jays •attacked even broad- beans. But -their- example has now been imitated by both tits and blackbirds. Starlings again are eating- apples on the trees ; and every fallen pear—at any rate of the luscious Williams—is eaten up by blackbirds, and sometimes even by thrushes. It is an equal tribute to our scientific hybridizers and to our climate that raspberries are just beginning to ripen on canes- of the so-called Haijsham-berry, and doubtless other autumn-fruiting varieties. It is not difficult nowadays, even in a normal year, to enjoy a dish of raspberries in October.- *
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