142 PROTECTION AGAINST BIRDS. 



insects ; the hawfinch frequently catches cockchafers even 

 when they are on the wing, and then, perching on a twig, 

 picks them to pieces, letting the hard elytra and legs fall to 

 the ground. 



Crossbills are extremely ravenous, and appear in swarms 

 when there are good seed-years of spruce and Scots pine. 

 They live on the seeds and berries of trees of several species. 

 They bite off cones by the base, and open out their scales 

 with their beaks and pull out the seeds. The common cross- 

 bill can only open spruce-cones, but the parrot crossbill also 

 attacks pine-cones. They eat mountain-ash berries when 

 cones are scarce, and even thistle- and dock-seed, and have 

 been seen to eat beech-cotyledons. They do some compensa- 

 tion by eating plant-lice. 



2. Protective Rides. 



Blue strings may be placed crosswise over sowings. . 



Bed-lead can be applied to the seeds in the following manner : 

 In a wide vessel, water and 1 Ib. of red-lead are stirred to- 

 gether, and 7 to 8 Ibs. of spruce-seeds mixed up with it, about 

 1 Ib. at a time, the water in the vessel being constantly stirred 

 until the seeds will take up no more of the lead. The seeds 

 can be sown at once without drying. This costs 5d. per Ib. 

 of seeds for labour and material. Dilute carbolic acid may 

 also be applied to seeds, as already mentioned. Scarecrows 

 are of very little use against finches. 



The seed-beds may be watched during the dangerous time, 

 and blank cartridges fired. 



A good plan is to shoot some of the birds, and hang the 

 bodies to stakes near the seed-bed. 



Cones bitten off and dropped by crossbills may be utilised 

 to secure the seeds remaining in them. 



SECTION VI. WOODPECKERS. . 



The question whether woodpeckers are useful or hurtful to 

 forests has been a subject of dispute, and will be here 

 discussed. 



