MARCH 59 



breasted bird which spends Christmas with us. But 

 there are English-speaking millions oversea for whom 

 the word ' robin ' has a widely different significance. The 

 Pilgrim Fathers and their followers applied this name to 

 a kind of thrush (Merula migratoria), and that is now 

 the robin of the United States. Nevertheless, the fact 

 remains that many persons, especially girls and women, 

 who might find solace in amateur science, are frightened 

 away by long-tailed terms. Mr. Scott Elliot deserves well 

 of the public for smoothing away such of these difficulties 

 as may be removed. 



In his chapter on ' Defence ' this writer deals briefly, 

 and as I venture to think, unsatisfactorily, with a certain 

 characteristic of the holly ; and, having been myself taken 

 to task for some obiter scriptum upon this point, perhaps 

 I may be allowed to say a word thereon. 



' In the common holly (says Mr. Elliot) the leaf-teeth are 

 spiny, and similar spines are found on the evergreen oak. It 

 has been stated that, in both, the lower branches and those 

 plants that have been especially cropped and pruned have much 

 more spiny leaves than the higher branches, or specimens which 

 have been allowed to grow freely. This would go to show 

 that the injury done by grazing animals directly promotes the 

 growth of prickles. But the fact is a little doubtful.' 



Yes, it is a little doubtful, but only because people 

 have been apt to direct their observations upon cultivated 

 hollies, and upon some of the innumerable varieties that 

 are to be found in gardens and nurseries. If you want 

 to ascertain the normal behaviour of hollies, you must 

 not content yourself with a survey from your library 

 window or shrubbery walk; you must go afield, to the 

 hedgerows, or to some wood where the accursed rabbit 



