234 OCTOBER 



places have knocked down as many as a good &quot; basher &quot; 

 could have secured. Blackberries, ripe weeks before 

 the normal date, have defied the drought ; and within 

 the last few years have attracted more pickers than ever. 

 It seems that the commercial grower of particular vari 

 eties has spread the cult ; and, as often, the increase of 

 the supply has raised the demand in greater proportion. 

 It is surprising that a shrub of such general distribution 

 should not have been discovered or appreciated by birds 

 or other animals. Occasionally a dog will discover a 

 pretty taste in the berry and choose his fruit with care ; 

 but for the rest the one animal that shows any particular 

 fondness is the pheasant ; and it is only in some regions 

 that pheasants show a liking for the food. Perhaps the 

 reason is that the berries are singularly unpalatable when 

 red, and the birds that are tempted by the colour to make 

 trial at this stage are for ever after repelled. 



Red is the attractive colour ; but how do birds dis 

 tinguish the good from the bad, the wholesome from the 

 poisonous ? In the hedgerows to-day you may see along 

 side one another strings of berries of the black and the 

 white bryony and of the woody nightshade. If you pick 

 from each and mi* up the booty it is extremely difficult 

 to sort them out, but the only one of the three that birds 

 like, so far as I know, is the nightshade (and country 

 people are inclined to damn all the species as &quot; deadly &quot;), 

 Pheasants again birds with a catholic taste will travel 

 a considerable distance to enjoy it. 



How much fruit is useless for consumption? The 

 blackthorns are thick with sloes gorgeous with bloom. 

 The crab trees drop sackfuls of fruit, attractive at least in 

 appearance, to the ground, where it slowly disappears by 

 mere putrefaction, except for an occasional visit just 

 before decay is complete from some belated wasp or 



