?2 THE BIRDS OF THE WOODS 



deciduous trees. It requires shelter alike from great heat and excessive cold, 

 sufficient vegetable and animal food— especially an abundance of berries and buds- 

 good hiding°places and quiet surroundings. All these it still finds in the mountain 

 woodlands°of Germany as well as in the sylvan regions of the Alps, though 

 originally, as still in "Poland, it was more a bird of the plains than of the 

 hills. In parts of the Continent the spread of pine-forests and the absence of 

 underwood has caused a decrease in the numbers of these birds, by depriving them 

 of a sufficient supply of the berries on which they feed. Hazel-hens devour 

 cranberries, bilberries, wild strawberries, raspberries, service-berries, blackberries, 

 elder-berries, juniper-berries, snow-berrks, hips and haws, and medlars and other 



THE HAZEI.-HEN. 



fruits; and, in addition to these, the seeds of vetches and peas, beech-mast and 

 acorns, as well as buds and catkins, the young sprigs of heather and such under- 

 shrubs, and leaves and grass; and in summer many insects, and spiders and worms. 

 The food of the hazel-hen, as well as its f.mdness for sand and dust baths, keep 

 it, at least in summer, on the ground. Except in the far north or in stormy weather 

 it sleeps in trees, in which in winter most of its time is spent, for the sake of the 

 buds and fruit. When bathing in the dust, it behaves in the same manner as a 

 domestic fowl, which it also resembles in its walk. It runs quickly, and, when escap- 

 ing from danger, stretches the body forward, presses the wings close, jumps into 

 the air, and then flies off, although not to any great distance. Its hiding-places are 

 among the underwood, and when in fear it keeps as low on the ground as possible. 

 If again disturbed it will fly into a tree, generally to one of the lower branches, 



