BIRDS AND GARDENS 213 



cries of rage that my head spun, and at last I 

 had to beat an ignominious retreat into the 

 house. Two of the greatest English orni- 

 thologists paid me a visit that August in hopes 

 of seeing the shrikes and their four fierce 

 young ones, who, as soon as they were fledged, 

 joined their parents daily in the horrid cat- 

 scaring din. But they had already taken flight 

 for their long journey to the Soudan, or per- 

 haps to Rhodesia where they sometimes winter 

 a journey that must have been a successful 

 one, for the next May saw them arrive, and 

 perch, rather tired, on the very same bough on 

 which I had first espied them. One of my 

 visitors, however, extracted the old nest from a 

 Bramble brake in the hedge, and this bore 

 testimony to the value of these fine birds in 

 the garden, as it was full of wing coverts and 

 debris of quite large beetles, &c. 



So much for garden friends. As for foes, I 

 only count three. Alas ! one of the three is 

 the beautiful bullfinch. It goes sorely against 

 me to make this confession. But only last 

 Spring I watched a hen-bullfinch calmly take 



