THE LOVE OF BIRDS 



does at certain seasons, but am not so sure how the 

 sum would work out if one were able to subtract 

 exactly the good of one time from the harm of 

 another. As to bullfinches, some dispute their 

 claims to admiration, and urge that the whistling 

 bullfinch is not a wild bird. Well, I have watched 

 and heard bullfinches in a spot where they are 

 abundant for more than thirty years the most 

 lonely, lovely green lane on this earth. They have 

 a most arresting, plaintive call ; they often pair, I 

 am sure, for life. They give a bold dash of black 

 and white, of lovely pink, to the winter scene. Their 

 habit of flying in and out of the hedge just in 

 front of the wayfarer is most attractive reminding 

 one a little of the dancing flights of the still choicer 

 redstart. Happily the wild bullfinch is a common 

 bird in many districts among great blackthorns and 

 thick straggling hedgerows. Harmful or not, we 

 cannot spare them. 



The Manor Farm 



Manor Farm has just taken a new lease of life. 

 The barns, their massy woodwork decaying, their 

 great thatched and gabled roofs falling in, had 

 become a serious question. It would mean an out- 

 lay of hundreds of pounds to replace these barns by 

 good modern brick and tile buildings, and how was 

 the owner of yesterday to meet such expense to- 

 morrow ? What hope to him of getting back this 



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