268 Seeds and Sowers 



the reputations of the blackcap, the willow-wren, 

 and even the robin are largely cloaked by the 

 obscurity in which the worn and moulting plumage 

 of the old birds and the confusing phases of the 

 young enable them to move at that time of year. 



In autumn, when the willow- wrens and other 

 summer birds of passage have gone, but before the 

 fieldfares come, the ripening of the berries of many 

 wild flowering shrubs brings a luxurious feast-time 

 to our own resident birds. With so abundant a 

 store before them, they begin by devouring the 

 berries with the softest and juiciest pulp ; nor is 

 there anything improvident in their greed, for these 

 soft fruits are the first to be destroyed by cold 

 weather. From late in September until early in 

 November the cream of the year's wild harvest 

 is skimmed by the blackbirds, missel-thrushes, 

 song-thrushes, and many smaller birds. Walking 

 in the dark shade of the yews, we hear missel- 

 thrushes flitting and fighting in the upper branches 

 for the sweet red cups of jelly that enclose the green 

 seeds. By the flaming hedge-rows, the ruby 

 clusters of the guelder rose vanish almost as quickly 

 as the larger and brighter bunches that weigh down 

 the sprays of the mountain-ash. Even the heavy 

 clusters of the elder grow swiftly lighter while the 

 leaves are falling ; and when the last pale spray 

 has vanished, the twigs point once more to the sky. 



The first fieldfares arriving in November fall 

 straight to work upon the hawthorn berries, when 

 they seek a change from feeding in the open pastures. 

 Birds seem to care little for blackberries while 



