NATURE NOTES. Qo 
Birds are very destructive to the fruit of the fig as well 
as to that of every other fruit-bearing tree. On approaching 
one of these tall fig trees one will often disturb a large flock 
of birds, which will suddenly fly out from the foliage where 
they had been enjoying their feast. No species is probably 
more destructive to the fig than the common Spreo (Spreo 
bicolor), which, though a starling, always recalled to my mind 
our English blackbird. But less welcome visitors are 
attracted by the shade of the fig tree. For often to one’s 
disgust one will, when about to pluck the luscious fruit, find 
a Boomslang (Tree-snake) comfortably coiled round the bough, 
and even to those who are aware that the creature is 
innocuous, its presence is anything but inviting. 
The fig tree of the veldt offers a strong contrast to its 
relative which grows under more favourable conditions, for 
it is in its appearance more like a shrub than a tree, while 
its flowers very much resemble those of the ice-plant, 
except that they are yellow instead of pink. The fruit of 
one species is known as the “ Little Sour Fig.” When ripe 
it is of a dark reddish-brown colour, and despite its un- 
inviting name, is much enjoyed by some people. By the 
Dutch it is mostly used for preserves, and I can vouch that 
it makes delicious jam. The fruit of another species is 
never used for that purpose, and is only eaten when newly 
gathered. It is of a lovely yellowish green colour, the 
yellow tint becoming all the more intense as the fruit ripens. 
At the Cape the coloured people believe that the milky 
juice of the fig leaf when broken off from the premer will 
cure warts, but I am afraid it is all “ Faith & no cure”; yet 
even in England the fig tree is not without its romance, for 
in a small town in Buckinghamshire a certain fig tree still 
attracts numerous visitors. The story goes that many years 
ago an old lady predicted that when she died she would not 
turn to dust, but that her body would be converted into a 
fig tree! Long after her death a fig tree was observed 
growing from her tomb, and the credulous natives have as 
much faith in the verification of the old lady’s prognostica- 
tions as the South African darkies have in their wart cure. 
C, J, S. Baynes, 
