61 



These whorl-shaped sprouts must be cut back next year, as in Fig. 5, 

 and this must be done annually as in Fig. 6, for this causes them to 

 ramify, and the birds settle in them all the more readily. The earlier 

 the pruning is done, the earlier the sprouting takes place. Autumn 

 is better than spring, on account of the early broods. 



Between the stock-bushes the hedge with the bushes which have 

 again been cut to the ground, shoots up anew as a protection. 



Fig. 6. OLD WHORLS RECENTLY PRUNED. 



These bushes are at first left untouched when the whorls are pruned, 

 and they are only cut where they have become sufficiently long and thick 

 to give too much shade to the whorls. Experience has taught that the 

 whorls cannot stand this either they do not develop or they die. In 

 a few years the whole hedge will have developed to such an extent 

 that the stock-bushes can scarcely be distinguished from it, and the 

 whole resembles an impenetrable thicket. 



The whole wood must, therefore, be cut to the ground every five 

 or six years, with the exception of the stock-bushes, the tall trees, 

 the rose hedge, and the plants forming the groups. In order not to 

 interfere with the settling of the birds, the copse may be divided into 

 several parts, which are alternately cut down in different years. 



A bird shelter-wood of this kind thus requires seven to nine years 

 before it is complete, as generally three-year-old plants are used. Our 

 object may be attained quicker if we use older plants. 



Abundant proof is found every year at Seebach of the remarkable 

 fondness shown by birds for the whorl-shaped ramifications. 

 According to the Ornithological Journal, 1904, p. 490, no fewer than 85 

 nests were found in the autumn of 1904 in the oldest shelter- wood, 

 which is about 8 yards wide and about 230 yards long ; that is to 

 say, one nest for less than every three yards. In the autumn of 1906, 



