78 Trees, Titmouse, and Woodpecker. 



internal texture of the sycamore, from the broken branch at 

 the height of 20 ft. The tree, though hollow as a drum, " or 

 lovers' vows," is now perfectly healthy. 



At a little distance from this, is another sycamore, once a 

 towering and majestic tree. Some fifteen years ago, it put 

 out a fungus, about 25 ft. from the ground. I saw, by the 

 enormous size of the fungus, that the tree must give way ere 

 long. In 1826, during a heavy gale of wind, it broke in 

 two, at the diseased part ; leaving one huge branch, which 

 continued to be clothed with rich foliage every succeeding 

 season. I built a stonework on the remaining part of the 

 trunk, by way of covering ; and I made sixteen apartments in 

 it for the jackdaws, planting an ivy root at the bottom. In 

 the summer of 1831, another large fungus made its appear- 

 ance at 8 ft. from the ground. One Sunday morning, during 

 a raging tempest, the trunk gave way at the fungus, carrying 

 the remaining branch, the stonework, and the jackdaws' 

 nests, with a tremendous crash, into the lake below. I roofed 

 the remainder of the stump again, leaving an entrance for the 

 owl. It is now quite covered with ivy, and has sent forth a 

 partial vegetation annually from its last misfortune. In June 

 of the present year, another huge fungus came out at 4 ft. 

 from the ground. I understand the warning; and I clearly 

 foresee that the final doom of this " statio malefida " volucri 

 is close at hand. 



Thus have two sycamores, within a few feet of each other, 

 been a prey to distinct diseases, and both of them afforded an 

 inward retreat to birds. The first, having entirely lost its 

 inside, by the slow-consuming process of wet entering at a 

 broken branch, still flourishes by the art of man. The second, 

 for centuries the ornament of the rock upon which it grew, 

 struck at last by the hand of nature with an inward distemper 

 which nothing could arrest, broke down at intervals in partial 

 ruins ; and probably will disappear for ever during the next 

 fierce wintry blast. 



There is still another process by which an entrance is pre- 

 pared for birds in the boles of trees. Frequently a large 

 branch fails without any apparent cause ; and it remains dead 

 on the tree for many years. At last, down it comes, having 

 given way close to the stem. On inspection you will find 

 that decay has entered deeply into the tree itself, without any 

 aid from rain water. The surrounding live wood, which kept 

 swelling gradually while the dead branch remained on the 

 tree, now that the obstruction is removed, begins to advance 

 over the newly exposed and distempered part. In the mean- 

 time, the birds find no difficulty in excavating this part, and 



