THE BIRD AND THE GARDEN 135 



least severe. The ground is a big place ; and most of 

 these, unlike the duck and moorhen, which build on 

 the same level, avoid the trouble of accumulating material. 

 How then does it come about that these birds are more 

 often disposed than others to share nests ? It is quite 

 common for two hen pheasants to lay in the same place ; 

 and it is surprising when this happens that the two agree 

 in delegating the subsequent labour. I knew of one 

 pheasant which brooded in solitary content just twenty- 

 one eggs ; and it is hardly likely (though possible) that 

 she laid them all herself. She has evaded the crows and 

 rooks, who have both this season proved in some degree 

 carrion. Three nests, more or less contiguous, were 

 less fortunate than this philoprogenitive hen, which may 

 have twenty-one chicks. Every egg in the three was 

 sucked dry it is thought by the rooks, not the crows. 

 A score of them rose from the place. The harpy proved 

 a worse enemy than the juggernaut. We must lament 

 such tragedies ; but nature has compensations. The 

 cover is deeper in late May ; the power to lay fertile eggs 

 is unabated ; and like the larks, robbed by boys on the 

 common, they will yet nourish their second broods safely 

 and happily. 



5- 



A year of blossom, wonderful beyond the records, may 

 introduce a new practice to the villages of South and 

 West of England. It has seemed to one or two fruit 

 growers a pity and a waste that orchards so compact of 

 blossom should be almost silent. The hum of insects is 

 only less desired than the wealth of blossom. Bees have 

 dwindled in many districts, and English honey become 

 a comparative rarity. In walking through the marvellous 



