70 SPRING-TIDE. 



their nest in a hole in the garden- wall 

 and bred up a family, which they ap- 

 peared to feed entirely on this very rep- 

 tile, bringing in thirty or forty in an hour 

 to the nest, to the great glee of their little 

 ones, who testified their delight at every 

 arrival by audible chirpings. 



J. I have often thought tliat an occa- 

 sional rigorous winter and the preying of 

 the larger species were sufficient to check 

 the too great increase of small birds. Not 

 only does intense cold destroy numbers of 

 the feathered race, but> according to a 

 friend of mine who has an estate in Scot- 

 land, hunger converts the graminivorous 

 bird into a bird of prey at such times. In 

 one hard winter, a few years since, the 

 rooks attacked and killed all the wood- 

 pigeons in his plantations. 



S. I do not doubt it, though I have 

 never witnessed such an onslaught here. 

 The wood-pigeon must be a feeble oppo- 



