116 



Bird Notes and News 



BUDS AND BULLFINCHES. 

 A correspondent writes to the R.S.P.B. : 

 " I have not yet seen any protest raised 

 against the killing of Bullfinches, who are 

 popularly supposed to destroy fruit-buds. 

 Perhaps the following account of my ex- 

 periences may interest you. I saw one spring 

 a pair of Bullfinches very busy at my goose- 

 berry bushes, morning after morning. I did 

 not molest them, I thought I would leave 

 the pretty creatures alone, and chance the 

 berries ! 



" That summer my neighbours were all 

 complaining of the poor crop of gooseberries : 

 I had an abundant crop. 



" Again, the next year, I saw the Bull- 

 finches at the snowberry-bushes, and I had 

 the best crop of snowberries I had ever 

 had. 



" I saw a pretty sight for several mornings 

 two or three autumns ago. A flock of Gold- 

 finches visited my garden ; there were only 

 a few leaves left on the apple-trees, but at 

 dusk each bird chose a perch under a leaf, 

 which acted as an umbrella." 



Notes. 



Among the larger Public Parks and Gardens 

 of Great Britain where the presence of wild 

 birds is encouraged by provision of Nesting- 

 Boxes, are several which also consider the 

 supply of food for the birds. This may be 

 done by the provision of ornamental bird- 

 tables and hanging food-boxes, such as are 

 supplied by the R.S.P.B., and also by the 

 planting of suitable berried trees and shrubs. 

 It is common enough to hear complaints of 

 birds stripping bushes of bright-hued berries 

 — presumably intended by Nature for the 

 special purpose of feeding birds in winter, 

 but grudged by the gardener ; still more 

 common for the vagabond and the hawker 

 to strip country hedges of the birds' winter 

 sustenance, and thus starve the feathered 

 people, in order to provide a Christmas 

 market of " decorations " for church and 

 home. The other side of the picture is 

 pleasanter to look upon — the actual planting 

 of berried trees for the wild birds. 



One of these parks is Pittencrieff Park, 

 Dunfermline, the splendid pleasure-ground 

 of the Carnegie-Dunfermline Trust, and the 

 Secretary of the Trust, Mr. Robert Burns, 



LL.B., kindly forwards a list of the berry- 

 bearing shrubs planted there, as follows : — 



Thorns and hollies ; various species of 

 Berberis, Cotoneaster, Daphne, Hypericum, 

 Pernettya, Pyracantha, Ribes, Yews ; 

 Colutea arborea, Cydonia Maullii, Elder, 

 Gaultheria procumbens, Leycesteria formosa, 

 Ligustrum, Mahonia aquifolia, Skimmia 

 japonica, and Snowberry. 



No doubt many readers of Bird Notes and 

 News could supply other names, and thus 

 a useful list be compiled. The Briar-rose, 

 the Rowan, Ivy, Privet, Juniper, the wild 

 Euonymus (Spindle-tree), and Bird-cherry, 

 for instance, would be included. Bird-and- 

 Tree Teams might well take this point into 

 consideration in choosing trees and shrubs 

 to plant on Arbor Day. 



The annual report of the Otago Acclimati- 

 sation Society records an expenditure of £287 

 for Hawks' feet. It seems that the Society, 

 finding these birds too numerous to suit the 

 breeding of game and waterfowl, offered 3d. 

 per pair for their feet, and though at first 

 the result was not great, they were, in the 

 picturesque words of the Chairman, when 

 about to abandon the campaign " faced 



