40 BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



retains its unrivalled reputation for those gardens 

 and orchards that prove so irresistibly attractive 

 to bird-life in many forms. In many cases these 

 gardens and orchards forcibly illustrate the fact 

 that wherever suitable cover may be found, birds 

 of many kinds are ready to take advantage of it, 

 provided they are free from exceptional disturb- 

 ance and molestation. The vicinity of houses 

 does not /appear to exert any unfavourable 

 influence. 



We will support our contention that birds and 

 some of the shyest species, too readily avail 

 themselves of the hospitality we offer them by a 

 glance through the luxuriant gardens and pleasure- 

 grounds of aristocratic Torquay. No other town 

 in the kingdom occupies such a favourable site or 

 is perhaps so completely enshrined in foliage. Its 

 villa-studded hills are wooded literally to the 

 water's edge, its streets are avenues of trees, its 

 gardens and pleasure-grounds contain a wealth 

 of vegetation, much of it perennially green and 

 vigorous, and suited in every way to the require- 

 ments of that varied feathered army which 

 occupies them. 



Birds of the Crow tribe are much in evidence. 



