Bird Notes and News 



21 



Mr. Phillips added that he had not 

 alluded to the Golden Crested Wren, 

 which does an amazing amount of good 

 to young fir and larch plantations, or to 

 any of the Warblers, which are great 

 insect- destroyers in summer. To make 

 the list complete he would also have had 

 to give a good place to the Tits, which 

 range the woodlands so industriously 

 summer and winter in quest of insect food ; 

 and to have named even the House- 

 Sparrow. This summer, when the oak- 

 trees have swarmed to an unusual degree 

 with caterpillars, which have reduced the 

 leaves to shreds, the Sparrow has been 

 noted at Kew and elsewhere, hanging to 

 the twigs almost with the agihty of a Tit 

 and picking off the insects by the hundred. 



" If landowners, more particularly 

 owners of woods," said Mr. PhilHps, 

 " only knew and considered the great 

 value of Woodpeckers and their alHes 

 in continually cleansing and freeing from 

 all vermin their trees, they would not be 

 satisfied until they had the feathered 

 friends of their trees adequately pro- 

 tected, as is now being done in the United 

 States. Wood free from insects is prac- 

 tically indestructible." But owners of 

 woodland can already do more than any 

 law can effect : they can insist upon 

 their keepers preserving birds that are 

 far more precious to the community than 

 Pheasants. 



A LEGEND OF ST. DRUON. 



Le Petit Journal (April 11, 1912) wel- 

 comes the new French League with the 

 recount of a legend which is reminiscent 

 of the " Birds of KilhngAvorth," and of 



many an experience of hard fact in France 

 and other countries : — 



" The Societe Nationale d'Acclimatation 

 has founded a League for the Protection of 

 Birds. This is an excellent movement. 

 Let us protect the birds, and especially let 

 us inspire the country-folk ^Y\ih the desire 

 to protect them. How unlucky it is that we 

 no longer believe in legends ! I know one 

 which was told me in my childhood in my 

 good country of Flanders, and which is, of 

 its kind, the prettiest and most persuasive 

 in the world. It is the legend of St. Druon, 

 Bishop of Arras, an unpretending saint 

 known only in Flanders and in the Artois 

 (Pas de Calais), but who seems all the same 

 to have been a good sort of saint. 



" St. Druon, then, was walking near 

 Arras at the seed-sowing season, and as he 

 passed by a field he met a peasant whose 

 newly-so^^^l furroAvs were being pillaged by 

 a flight of birds. ' Who vAW rid me of these 

 accursed thieves ! ' cried the man. ' I 

 would part with my share of paradise if not 

 one single bird could approach within a 

 league of my farm.' ' Never mind,' said 

 the Bishop, draA\ing near ; ' there is no 

 need to call so loud for such a favour.' 

 Then, tracing a sign in the air, he said, 

 ' My friend, your praj^er will be granted.' 



" Returning to the village a year later, he 

 found the same peasant seated outside his 

 cottage, dejected, his head buried in his 

 hands. ' What ails you, my friend ? ' asks 

 the Bishop. ' What ails me ? ' repeats the 

 other in anger. ' It is you who are the 

 cause of my misfortimes. The insects de- 

 vour my crops, because the birds no longer 

 come and eat the grubs and worms ; the 

 field-mice ravage my ground, and leave me 

 not a single root now that the Owls and 

 Hawks no longer make war upon them. 

 And all round me is dull and sad because I 

 hear no more the songs of the Nightingales.' 

 St. Druon said to him with a smile, ' A year 

 ago you wanted to give your share of para- 

 dise if no bird could come within a league 

 of your fields, and now jom are in despair 

 because you have your wish ! ' " 



