106 PROTECTION OF WOODLANDS. 



The Jay (Garrulus glandarius) is particularly partial to mast, 

 in particular acorns, beech-nuts, and chestnuts, and, notwith- 

 standing that these may be carefully hidden away in the soil, 

 possesses considerable talent for finding them out. It also digs 

 up young oak-seedlings in order to devour the cotyledons, and can 

 consequently become very troublesome and injurious both in 

 nursery-beds and on sowings in the open, where jays often 

 collect in large numbers. They have also occasionally been 

 observed feeding on the cotyledons of coniferous seedlings which 

 have just germinated. They further do damage indirectly by 

 robbing nests and destroying young birds of useful species, whilst 

 the advantage which they are said to bring by hiding acorns and 

 beech-nuts under moss, &c., where these find a germinating bed, 

 is at best somewhat problematic, for in most cases such seedlings 

 come up where there is no particular use for them. 



The Finches, including the Chaffinch (Fringilla ccelebs), the 

 Linnet (F. cannabina), the Bullfinch (Pyrrliula rubricilla), the 

 Hawfinch (Coccothraustes vulgaris), &c., can be very destructive in 

 nursery-beds by devouring the seeds of conifers, which they are 

 particularly fond of. They not only feed on the seeds, but also 

 devour the cotyledons when, after being formed, they are still 

 capped with the shell of the seed ; sometimes, when coming in 

 large numbers, they destroy whole seed-beds. 1 They are also fond 

 of beech-nuts and the cotyledons of young beech-seedlings. 



And lastly, the Crossbills (Loxiae), which are exceedingly fond 

 of Spruce and Pine seed, and can easily manage to extract 

 them after having bitten off the cones, may be productive of 

 considerable damage, owing to the enormous numbers in which 

 they often occur, and to their voracity in devouring the 

 seed. 



Woodpeckers (Pici) have always been considered as on the 

 whole rather useful in destroying insects in trees ; but during the 

 last decade not only has their utility been very much doubted, 

 but their activity has even, in many directions, been held to be 

 altogether injurious. Besides having to bear the blame of 

 devouring coniferous seed, which they can pick out of the cones 

 very cleverly, of picking off the rind of young smooth-barked 

 stems, and of pecking breeding-holes in healthy boles, they are 



1 The Tits (Paridce) can also do a good deal of similar damage when flocking to 

 nurseries in large numbers Trans. 



