292 DECEMBER 



multiplying persecutors begin to alter the ecology, as the 

 men of science say, of the birds. The other day near 

 Holkham four great flocks of pink-footed geese flew 

 overhead. Each flock contained more than two hundred 

 birds, perhaps as many as three hundred ; it is hard to 

 estimate such numbers ; but in all they made a battalion 

 at full strength. The splendid spectacle was also signifi 

 cant, for they gave the old historic haunt the go-by and 

 flew on and on it is wiser not to say to what destination, 

 or even in what direction. This desertion and the dwind 

 ling of the Canada geese, who are less wary, has bred the 

 desire for yet another sanctuary on that idyllic coast. 

 Cley, Blakeney, Scolt Head the names, like Rossetti s 

 angels, are &quot; sweet symphonies &quot; in the ear of the natur 

 alist, and if the chain of sweet sounds is lengthened they 

 would all rejoice. Let the pink-footed geese greet the 

 rosy-toed dawn as safely as the shelduck on the Scolt 

 head dunes which composed one year s Christmas card of 

 the Norfolk Naturalists Trust. 



Birds soon discover sanctuary and, like Lord Grey s 

 faithful teal, are tame within it, and wild even a yard or 

 two outside. One of the classical examples of quick and 

 general discovery and appreciation of a sanctuary con 

 cerns migrating geese. We may do in East England just 

 what Mr. Jack Miner did in Ontario ; and in a country 

 where big birds are few, though small birds are plenty, a 

 sanctuary for geese would be well worth while. 



6. 



The old-fashioned December, decorated with snow 

 and frost and shivering robins, is doubtless a myth. The 

 month has usually been open for the greater part ; and 

 the great frosts have belonged to the new year, not the 



