FLOCKS OF BIRDS 



either side, forming an irregular avenue. Almost 

 every elm in spring has its chaffinch loudly chal- 

 lenging. The birdcatchers are aware that it is a 

 frequented resort, and on Sunday mornings four or 

 five of them used to be seen in the course of a 

 mile, each with a call bird in a partly darkened 

 cage, a stuffed dummy, and limed twigs. In the 

 cornfields on either hand wood-pigeons are numer- 

 ous in spring and autumn. Up to April they come 

 in flocks, feeding on the newly sown grain when 

 they can get at it, and varying it with ivy berries, 

 from the ivy growing up the elms. By degrees the 

 flocks break up as the nesting begins in earnest. 



Some pair and build much earlier than others ; 

 in fact, the first egg recorded is very little to be 

 depended on as an indication. Particular pairs (of 

 many kinds of birds) may have nests, and yet 

 the species as a species may be still flying in large 

 packs. The flocks which settle in these fields 

 number from one to two hundred. Rooks, wood- 

 pigeons, and tame white pigeons often feed amicably 

 mixed up together ; the white tame birds are con- 

 spicuous at a long distance before the crops have 

 risen, or after the stubble is ploughed. 



I should think that the corn farmers of Surrey 

 lose more grain from the birds than the agricul- 

 turists whose tenancies are a hundred miles from 

 London. In the comparatively wild or open dis- 

 37 



