BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 81 



to the fruit-grower, that he does all in his power 

 to attract them, and to tempt them to breed in 

 his grounds. His main idea is that birds that 

 are fed on the premises, that live and feed among 

 the trees, search for and attack the gardeners' 

 enemies at every stage of their existence. At the 

 same time he believes that it is very bad to grow 

 fruit near woods, as in such a case the birds that 

 live in the woods and are of no advantage to 

 the garden, swarm into it as the fruit ripens, and 

 that it is only by liberal use of nets that any rea- 

 sonable portion of the fruit can be saved. 



He answered that with regard to the last point 

 he did not quite agree with Mr. Witherspoon. 

 All the gardens and orchards in the village were 

 raided by the birds from the wood, yet he reck- 

 oned they got as much fruit from their trees as 

 others who had no woods near them. Then there 

 was the big cherry plantation, one of the biggest 

 in England, so that people came from all parts 

 in the blossoming time just to look at it, and a 

 wonderful sight it was. For a quarter of a mile 

 this particular orchard ran parallel with the wood, 

 with nothing but the green road between, and 

 when the first fruit was ripening you could see 



