THE FLY CATCHER.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3133, 4 September 1922, Page 7

THE FLY CATCHER.

(By a NaturaJiet.) The old plum tree clings to a corner of the garden wall, and by dint of careful training turns half a dozen fruitbearing branches to the south. Where a centre branch leaves the trunk there is a neat little nest made up of hay that has been gathered from the meadow's feeding-box to which the cows resort, and of wool that, if I ami not mistaken, some sheep from the upland left behind them when they broke through a gap. There are lichens from the old ash trees in the wood and some horsehair, and the whole has been woven together with skill and patience. There were live little eggs there, down to Monday last; they had dusky red blotches on a ground that was neither blue or green but partook of both, and now the eggs have gone and there are some blind fledglings instead. The parents of the babies are two little grey-brown birds with dark bilfc. and something round the bills that suggests whiskers, and they are occupied from early morning till late night alearing up the all too abundant insects on behalf of their hungry brood. Many birds are helping the farmer and the gardener just now, but none quite so indefatigabiy as these, for they are spotted fly-oatohens. I sit in the orchard when evening brings the leisured hours and watch my visitors a-wing. Their pursuit is endIres. They twist and turn more rapidly than a bat, almost as quickly as ;, swift, and the insects are so small that it is almost impossible to see any of them. Apparently they arc conveyed to the crop and then regurgitated into the open mouths of the babies. Now and again a large fly or moth may be seen on the wing before the fly-catcher snaps it, but as a rule it is only the swift movement that suggests capture. it is pleasant, when one is too tired for more gardening, to sit and watch these summer visitors making the work effective. ' The spotted fly-catcher is of African origin, and is quite a late emigrant, coming so far as I can tell as much as a month after the nightingale and cuckoo. You. will look in vain for the the fly-catcher before the middle of May or after mid-September; he chooses the choicest months, knows England only at its best, and probably carries back to some tropical land a very favorable story of our climate and food supplies. He is essentially £ worker. Often the sober-plumaged birds like the nightingale and garden warbler have exquisite voices, and in the intervals of their pursuit of insects charm us with their song. The fly catcher is no vocalist. T suppose that most of his acquaintances from tropical lands regard his as something negligible, but in truth we are very deep in his debt. For he comes when, the air is alive with insects whose capacity for reproduction is seemingly endless; he stays through the period of greatest danger, and eats his way solidly through the summer. Ho raises a family, very often two. and trains them in the way they should go. Only when the chill is creeping into the evenings, and worker bees have driven out the drones, and the great onrush of insect life is stayed does he turn to seek his proper home. The heroic lock-keeper of Ypres. who as a mere private in the Belgian army established under heavy enemy fire a water barrage between Nieuport and Dixmude, thereby preventing the Germans reaching ilie road to Calais, at the end of November. 1911, died at Fumes (France) on June 15, aged 33. Doctors- say his death was the result of a ((implication of diseases contracted during the war. Only a few days previous to his death he received intimation that the Belgian Government, in recognition of his valuable services, had granted him an annual pension of 3,000 francs, the first instalment of which was to have been paid on June 30. Cogglie's profound knowledge of the tidoH and of the nature of the country astonished the most eminent experts. When he suggested establishing a "water line" between the Germans and the Allies his plan was at first rejected. Later, when told ho could go ahead, he compelled 1.50,000 Germans' to choose between being drowned or flying for their lives. As it was, a large number met death by drowning in C'ogghc's inland sea. A huge canal connecting Rotterdam with Basic via the Swiss lakes of Geneva and Neucbatel is under consideration. and if the project is carried through it will be the most wonderful waterway in the world. The greatest difficulty is the section of the canal' which must, pass through Geneva—or. rather, under it—for it is to bore a huge subterranean tminer right underneath the town. Targe enough for cargo vessels of 700 tons to pass through.

iisli'jd the mo«t eminent experts. When lie suggested establishing a "water line" between the Germans and the Allies his plan was at first rejected. Later, when told he could go ahead, he compelled 1.50,000 Germans to choo.se between being di'owned or flying for their lives'. Art it was, a large number met death by drowning in Cogghe'« inland eea. A huge caiia;! connecting Rotterdam with Basle via the Swiss lakes of Geneva, and NeiK'hatel is under consideration, and if the project is carried through it will be the most wonderful waterway in the world. The greatest difficulty is the section of the canal which must pass through Geneva—or. rather, under it—for it is suggested to bore a huge subterranean tminer right underneath the town. Targe enough for cargo vessels of 700 tons to pace through.