Debt to Beepers The title of keeper has been the
target of satiric scorn from many humanitarians ; gnd some keepers have doubtless destroyed where they ought to have kept and preserved. Yet both bird-lovers and gardeners may greatly regret the absence of keepers. For example, all .gardeners in my neighbourhood have had much ado to preserve a dish of peas against the jays, which are seen. even in companies. They have found safe breeding in belts of woodland, once carefully preserved. The jay, in my opinion, is much less deadly to game. than crow or magpie or, indeed, jackdaw, because of its insatiable greed for certain vegetable foods, of which green peas stand at the top of. the list. The birds will brave even nets, And a fair number have fallen to the retiarius; In general it is, I think, a fair contention that our multitude of small birds is due largely to the destruction of their worst enemies, among which must now be reckoned the grey squirrel. It was, I believe, evidence of its ravaging of small birds' nests that persuaded the late Duke of Bedford to order the destruction of the squirrels that he had himself imported into Woburn Park. In my own garden the jays did not discover the early peas till they were too old for the table ; but it was found necessary to wire or net the later rows.
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