140 PROTECTION AGAINST BIRDS. 



replaced over the acorns, the birds did not recognise the place 

 and left the acorns alone. 



At the same time, by placing acorns and beech-nuts singly 

 in holes in the ground, which it afterwards forgets, it assists 

 in the spread of the oak and beech. Of more value is its 

 power of attacking mice and insects, but the good done is less 

 than the harm effected in other ways. 



The nutcracker, though not uncommon in the spruce 

 forests of the Schwarzwald, the Bavarian Alps, the Tyrol and 

 Switzerland, is rare in Central and North Germany, and in 

 the British Isles. Its food consists of hazel-nuts, acorns, and 

 beech-mast, and especially the seeds of the Cembran pine, of 

 which it is so fond as to pick them out of sowings and seed- 

 beds in the very presence of the workmen who are sowing the 

 seed. It also destroys the eggs and young of useful birds. 

 This extremely restless bird also sows seeds, and in this 

 respect is more useful than the jay, as the localities it prefers 

 in the high mountain regions are those where planting is 

 extremely costly, and any assistance to man's action in 

 reboisement is of great value. 



2. Protective Rules. 



Cover up endangered sowings with branches of thorn-bushes, 

 immediately after sowing. 



Shoot in autumn, when jays keep flying from one oak to 

 another. Several hundred jays are thus shot every year in 

 Epping Forest. 



SECTION V. FINCHES AND OTHER SMALL BIRDS. 



1. Damage Done. 



The hawfinch, rare in the British Isles, is very fond of 

 fruits and seeds, especially those of the hornbeam, cherry, 

 maples, oaks, beech, alder, elm and conifers. The traces of 

 its activity are seen in the remains of the fruit lying under 

 the trees. It also bites-off buds. In general, however, the 

 damage done by this bird is greater in gardens and orchards 

 than in forests. 



