40 S)ual! Birds' Struggles. 



Small Birds' Struggles. 



TOO MANY BIRDS OF PREY. 



Reprinted from THIi TIMES. Jan. -'3rd, willi tliaiiks and apologies to the 

 Editor and Proprietor. Cutting per Rev. G. H. Raynor, M.A. — Ed. " B.N." 



" Bird life is still struggling to recover from the calamity of the 

 " great frost two years ago. Most species suffered much more than 

 "decimation in that bitter winter, followed by a wintry spring; of our 

 " resident species probably more than half perished, while the proportion 

 " was still higher among many of the more delicate kinds. It will take 20 

 " or 30 mild seasons before England regains its modest handful of Dartford 

 " warblers — a .species which does not migrate, like most of its kin, but 

 " lurks throughout the year in the southern heaths and furze-brakes. The 

 '' still frailer goldcrest had become familiar of recent years in most 

 " plantations of garden firs ; and in winter great numbers flocked to 

 " England from Scandinavia. At least four-fifths of all these goldcrests 

 " were destroyed; but now again, when the winter sun strikes warm on 

 " some spruce or Austrian pine, we see an occasional pair of them flashing 

 " their bright crowns among the pine tassels, and hear their slender cry. 

 ■" Lapwings now beat about the country in fair-sized flocks; song-thrushes, 

 " which frost always hits so much harder than blackbirds, are heard in half 

 " or two-thirds of their old numbers on mild days. Bullfinches, which 

 " became nearly as rare as goldcrests, are again seen slipping now and then 

 " among the rose-hips in briary lanes. Even the robins and hege-sparrows 

 " are only slowly regaining their old numbers ; there will be many a prim- 

 ■" rose bank, again this spring, without its familiar robin's nest. 



" The great decrease of most garden and woodland birds is partly 

 " masked by the increase of a few conspicuous species. The fir plantations 

 " which used to be filled with the delicate rivulets of the goldcrests' songs 

 " now echo to the screech of jays. Jays are beautiful and cunning birds; 

 " they build a fascinating nest — not even the bullfinch can smooth fine roots 

 " into so sleek a cup ; and formerly, in the days of excessive game- 

 ^' preserving, we saw too little of them. The jay is not rare now ; he 

 " abounds. His varied diet and fondness for sheltered woodlands helped 

 " him through the great frost ; his mate lays the goodly number of six 

 " eggs, when May brings kindly weather ! and for several springs she has 

 " been free from her one great enemy, the game-keeper. Many country- 

 " dwellers have learnt outstanding facts about the jay — such as its greed 

 " for peas, the harshness of its voice, unequalled among British birds, and 

 " its bloodthirsty ingenuity in birds'-nesting. We have now too many 

 " jays: and the same is true of carrion crows and of magpies. Both are 

 ■" very interesting birds, which formerly were almost banished from many 

 " districts ; but Nature left to herself has overdone them. It is not good 

 " to take from us so many of our sweetest singers and best gardening- 

 ^' allies, and to foster these predatory species, which systematically perse- 

 " cute the small birds which still remain. 



