228 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



before that. Many of the insect - feeders, with 

 their young, just before leaving us for their winter 

 quarters, play havoc, if permitted, with the smaller 

 fruits. Strange to say, inland districts, well wooded, 

 do not suffer nearly so much as those close to the 

 tide or the tidal rivers ; for just at the time when 

 bush-fruits are ripe, most of the birds are beginning 

 to think about going back to where they started 

 from, over the water; and day by day they feed 

 and flit nearer to the coast-lines, a few families at a 

 time, until the fruit-gardens and orchards are alive 

 with small birds of one sort and another, and all of 

 them feeding on the fruit. This had to be seen to ; 

 so, as nearly every house had a gun in it of some 

 kind or other, those who worked in the orchards 

 and gardens had not much difficulty in finding one 

 for those of their sons who had been promoted to 

 the proud position of bird-shooting. These were 

 not fowling-pieces, only the ordinary light guns, 

 " snipe guns " they were called, in order to 

 distinguish them from the others. The larger 

 farmhouses generally had a complete battery 

 hanging by leather loops over the broad mantel. 

 But now and then you w r ould see one or two of 



