The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-12 00:00:00

BIRD MURDER.

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Mr. F. 0. Morris, in a letter to a contemporary, says :
The son of Sirach tells us that "all things are double,
one against another, and God hath made nothing imperfect;"
and I hope to be able to prove that, as the logical formula
we learnt at Oxford shows that the universal includes the
particular, so the adage is true of birds and the place they
hold between benefit conferred and injury done.
Now, birds may be classed unscientifically into large and
small, but both alike unfortunately are to be included under
the general category of "bird murder," on which subject
your columns have contained so many forcible and interest-
ing letters. By large birds I mean owls, jays, kestrels,
nightjars, and even woodpeckers, and by small such as
sparrows, yellowhammers, finches, titmice, "et id genus
omne." Both of these classes are victims of persecution
from mistaken motives, the persons who pursue them to
death being, indeed, different—peers and peasants, farmers
and gamekeepers, and their objects different—bread and the
battue ; but the crime is ultimately, as I shall have to show,
to be laid at the door of only one of these parties to it—
namely, the former.
The cause assigned for the destruction of small birds is
the damage they do to the corn, and of large the damage
they do to game. I will take the former first, and, as I
stated in the former communication you did me the favour
of inserting that I would forward to you, when I could find
time for doing so, some interesting facts bearing on the
question, I shall now endeavour to ftifil the pledge.
It has just been stated in the papers that the Norfolk
farmers have this year completed their harvest in three
weeks. Say that the ordinary time is a month, and assum.
ing for the moment that for these few weeks—viz , while
the grain is in a ripe state—the produce of the cornfields is
exposed to the depredations of a host of small birds to the
extent that is commonly and most ignorantly supposed, on
which point I shall have a good deal to say before I have
done, there remain 11 months out of the 12 during which it
is simply impossible they can be feeding on ripe grain, in-
asmuch as there is no ripe grain for them to feed on. How,
then, are they employed for the most part during these other
11 months? I will show how they are occupied during a
part of that time; and let it be remembered that though the
facts I am about first to state have reference to the feeding
of young birds by the old, yet that these same young birds,
if indeed allowed to live, will require daily and hourly food,
and will find it for themselves during the remainder of the
year.

The following observations were made by Mr. Weir for
Mr. Macgillivray, whose "History of British Birds" is one
of the most elaborate and carefully accurate books that were
ever written on anysubject, but the character of its lamented
author is too well known to need any panegyric from me.
Mr. Macgillivray truly remarks, in preluding the observa-
tions I am about to quote, that "no such patient watchings
have ever been instituted by any ornithologist." They seem
to me conclusive on this part of the subject, but you have
only to look oat of your window just after a shower on a
rainy day, and watch a pair of wagtails on the lawn with
their newly-fledged brood, and see the incessant manner in
which they run and flit about, catching unerringly an in-
sect every few seconds, or lean over the rails between your
garden and the adjoining newly-mown grass field, and hear
the repeated snap of the swallow's bill as he quarters his
ground backward and forward catching a fly every time, to
tell you that the number of insects annually destroyed by
our native small birds must be vast beyond calculation. I
will begin with the thrush. Mr. Weir writes :
• "At the distance of 9 feet from a thrush's nest, which
was built in an old wall, I erected a hut with some branches
of spruce and Scotch fir, and took possession of it on the
morning of Thursday, the Bth of June, 1837, at a quarter-
past 1 o'clock, for the purpose of making observations on
the habits of these birds. At half-past 2 they commenced
feeding their brood. From that time until 4 they fed them
14 times. From 4to half-past 5 o'clock they fed them 22
times. As one of the young birds was dressing its feathers
it lost its balance and fell on the ground. No sooner did
the old ones perceive it than they set up the most doleful
lamentations. I replaced it in the nest. Having seen me
return to my retreat they would not feed their young until
I came out. I accordingly went home for my boy, who,
after I had gone in again, carefully concealed the entrance.
His departure attracted their notice, for, having followed
him to a considerable distance, they returned, and, without
suspicion, commenced their labour. From half-past 5
until 7 o'clock they fed them 24 times. From 7to 8 they
fed them 16.times,and from 810 9 eleven times. From 10 to 11
they fed them 10 times, and from Ito 2 11 times. From 2
to 3 they fed them eight times, and from 3 to 4 six times,
From 4 to 5 they fed them five times, from 5 to 6 six times,
and from 6t07 12 times. From 7to 8 they fed them 13
times, and from Bto half-past 917 times. They now ceased
from their labours for the day, after having fed their brood
206 times."

Take next the blackbird :
"On Saturday morning, June 10, 1837, at half-past 2
o'clock, I went into a house made of the branches of trees
to watch the blackbird's while they were feeding their brood.
It was within ninefeet of their nest, which was built in the
hole of an old wall. At a quarter-past 3 o'clock in the
morning they began to feed their young, which were four
in number. From that time until 4 o'clock the male only
fed them once, and sang almost incessantly, while the female
fed them six times. From 4 to 5 o'clock the male fed them
six and the female three times; front 5 to 6 the male fed
them four, and the female five times; from 6 to 7 the male
led them three, and the female five times; and from 7 to 8 the
male fed them three times. For the last four hours he sang
most delightfully, except when he was feeding his tender off-
spring. As he had induced one of them to fly out after him,
I was under the necessity of fixing it into its nest, and this
caused some interruption to their feeding. From Bto 9
o'clock the male fed them six, and the female seven times;
and from 9 to 10 o'clock the male fed them four, and the
Gmale three times. From 10 to 11 o'clock the:male fed them
three and the female two times; from 11 to 12 the male fed
them two, and the female three times; from 12 to 1 o'clock
the male fed them two and the female four times; and from
1 to 2 the male fed them twice and the female thrice.
From 2 to 3 o'clock the female fed them twice ; and from 3
to 4 the mate fed them three, and the female four times.
From 4 to 5 o'clock the male fed them three, and the female
four times; from 5 to 6 o'clock the female fed them only
twice; and from 6to 7 she fed them three times. In the
evening the male was so much engaged in singing that he
left the charge of his family almost entirely to his tender.
hearted spouse. From 7 to 8 o'clock the male fed them only
once, and the female six times, and from 8 to 20 minutes to
9 o'clock, when they ceased from their mutual labours, the
male fed them once, and the female seven times. When 1
left my retreat to repair to my more comfortable abode, the
male was pouring fourth his most charming melody. Thus,
in the course of a single day, the male fed the young 41,
and the female 69 times.

Again, the blue titmouse
On Tuesday morning, the 4th of July, 1837, at a quarter
past 2 o'clock, I went out to observe the titmoutso feeding
their brood. At half-past 3 o'clock in the morning the birds
began to feed their young, which were six in number. From
that time until 4 o'clock they fed them 12 times, and from
4to 5 o'clock 25 times, From sto 6 o'clock they fed them
40 times, which was astonishing, as during the whole of
this hour they flew to a plantation at the distance of more
than 160 yards from their nest, From 6to 7 o'clock they
fed them 29 times. During a part of this hour they flew
in every minute. From 7 to 8 o'clock they led them
20 times. During this hour it rained very heavily.
From 8 to 9 o'clock they fed them 36 times, and from
9to 10 o'clock 46 times. During a part of this last
hour they fed them 12 times in five minutes. From 10 to
11 o'clock they fed them 37 times, and from 11 to 12 o'clock
39 times, and from 12 to 1 o'clock 24 times. From 1 to 2
o'clock they fed them 23 times, and from 2 to 3 o'clock 34
times, and from 3 to 4 o'clock 18 times. From 4to 5 o'clock
they fed them 29 times, and from 5 to 6 o'clock 25 times,
and from 6 to 7 o'clock 20 times, and from 7 to half•past 8
o'clock 25 times. They now stopped, after baying been al-
most incessantly engaged for nearly 17 hours in theirlabours
of love, and after having fed their young 475 times. They
appeared to feed them solely with caterpillars. Sometimes
they brought in a single large one, and at other times two
or three small ones, It is therefore impossible to say how
many have been carried in by them during the day."
So, again, Mr. Knapp, in his justly popular Journal of a
Naturalist, has the following interesting notice respecting
this species
I was lately exceedingly pleased in witnessing the ma•
ternal care and intelligence of this bird, for the poor thing
had its young ones in the hole of a wall, and the nest had
been nearly all drawn out of the crevice by the paw of a cat,
and part of its brood devoured. In revisiting its family the
bird discovered a portion of it remaining, though wrapped
up and hidden in the tangled moss and feathers of their bed,
and it then drew the whole of the nest back into the place
from whence it had been taken, unrolled and resettled the
remaining little ones, fed them with the usual attentions, and
finally succeeded in rearing them. The parents of even this
reduced family laboured with great perseverance to supply
its wants, one or the other of them bringing a grub, or ca-
terpillar, or some insect, at intervals of less than a minute
through the day; and probably in the earlier part of the
morning more frequently, but if we allow that they brought
food to the hole every minute for 15 hours, and provided
for their own wants also, it will admit of perhaps 1,000 grubs
a day for the requirements of one, and that a diminished
brood, and gives us some comprehension of the infinite num-
ber requisite for the summer nutriment of our soft billed
birds, and the great distance gone over by such as have
young ones, in their numerous trips from hedge to tree in
the hours specified, when they have full broods to support."

-
PRESENTATION TO A BRITISH CATTAIL—A gra-
tifying presentation was made yesterday at the
Sailors' Home, in Liverpool, from the President of the
United States to Captain Robert Clarke, of the Glasgow
ship General Neil. At the request of the Board of Trade,
to whom it had been transmitted, Mr. George Kendall,
chairman of the Liverpool Local Marine Board, made the
presentation, which was a handsome gold watch, with
chronometer movement, bearing a suitable inscription. It
appeared that on the loth of March, 1862, when on a voyage
from Bombay to Liverpool, Captain Clarke, in the Indian
Ocean, fell in with the ship Scargo, Captain Rows, of
Boston, in a sinking condition, she having bean completely
disabled two days before by a cyclone. On nearing the
Scargo Captain Clarke himself went on board of her, and
perceiving the plight they were in he took off the captain
and crew and one passenger and put them on board of his
QWI3 ship,