204 STRA Y FEA THERS FROM MANY BIRDS. 



bright-red fruit of the hawthorn. In the genial spring- 

 time the clustering branches of snow-white may-blossom 

 endow the country with one of its most fair and fragrant 

 charms ; then, as the June breezes scatter the full- 

 blown flowers, we are apt to think we have seen the last 

 of the hawthorns' beauties for the year ; but in the late 

 autumn days, when its bright carmine and yellow leaves 

 have fallen, the rich ripe clusters of red " haws " glow 

 temptingly from the branches, showing out more and 

 more conspicuously as the leaves drop from around 

 them. Even more beautiful than the hawthorn's fruit 

 are the bunches of orange-red berries that hang pendant 

 from the long slender branches of the mountain ash 

 one of the most graceful and beautiful of our smaller 

 trees, the " wiggin " of the country boy who delights to 

 make his rustic whistles from its wood, owing to the 

 ease with which the bark is slipped from the twigs. 

 These berries are the favourite fare of the Missel-thrush ; 

 and the Ring Ousels stay to regale themselves on them 

 as they pass south from the moorlands, where they 

 spend the summer. Growing here and there amongst 

 the underwood on the banks of the stream, or in the 

 dense hedgerows and coppices, the guelder-rose is another 

 berry-bearing tree, whose fruit is a special favourite with 

 the birds. So too are the berries of the more local 

 service-tree which grows luxuriantly on the chalky 

 heights of Surrey. The long red spindle-shaped fruit 



