112 A Country Garden. 



A Country Garden. 



By. F. R. 



Reprinted from " The Australasian," with thanks to the Author 

 and Editor. — Cutting per J . Hume. — Ed., B.N. 



I have several times noticed that one of the best places to 

 look for birds is a country garden, especially a garden that is 

 surrounded by trees. There are. of course, two very obvious 

 reasons why this should be so. In the first place, as the soil 

 is continually being disturbed, there is a wealth of grub and 

 insect life available as food, while the trees themselves furnish 

 a fair quota of grubs and insects. Then there is the attraction 

 of the fruit itself. It is, therefore, not at all surprising that 

 birds which are almost unknown in the immediately-surrounding 

 district should be quite common in a good garden. Usually, 

 too, the owners of these gardens, even if not actively interested 

 in the birds themselves, are at any rate not hostile to them; and 

 the majority of gardeners now understand that most of the birds 

 are of valuable assistance to them. 



I know one of these large gardens which has for its feath- 

 ered inhabitants a singular mixture of imported and native birds, 

 l^ealing with the former first, there are scores of Goldfinches, 

 which nest freely right amongst the fruit-trees. A fruit-tree is 

 a favourite nesting-place with the Goldfinch, whose nest is 

 usually placed so low in the tree that it can often be reached from 

 the ground. It is, however, often also so cleverly concealed 

 as not to be visil)le until autumn strips the leaves from the tree 

 Starlings also are very common, and so far they have not 

 touched the fruit, contenting themselves with the teeming grub- 

 life. As there are no available hollows, they do not nest in the 

 garden. There are several pairs of Blackbirds, which are verv 

 rare in the district. The Blackbirds are breeding slowly. The^ 

 nest in the garden, and are very shy. Though they take toll of 

 the fruit, they are not molested, as their numbers are small. 

 There are. also, several English Thrushes, which do not inter- 

 fere with the fruit. Both the Thrush and the Blackbird are 

 welcomed on account of their melody. Sparrows, of course, 

 are numerous, and are, decidedly, not welcomed. 



