Armitt: Trees and Tree-Nesters. 9 
frequently, no doubt, go down through the Oak to the soil. In 
the instance quoted above, where two Hollies and a Rowan live 
on an Oak, the roots of the Rowan may be detected as certain 
rod-like excrescences, bursting through the bark of the Oak 
near the ground.! 
These lodger trees are no doubt mainly planted by birds. Their 
species almost attest the fact. The berry of the Mountain Ash 
is the favourite food of many birds; and Thrushes—Song and 
Missel—Blackbird, -Bullfinch, and Chaffinch clear the autumn 
crop with avidity. The Finches that, clinging to the tree, pick 
the berry and eat its seed forthwith, can scarcely propagate the 
tree; but the habit of the Thrushes, to carry a whole berry off in 
the beak to eat at leisure, will cause many to be scattered. 
The Holly berry makes the winter sustenance of many birds, 
of Ring Doves, Blackbirds, Thrushes, Fieldfares, and Jays. 
All these birds swallow the berry whole, and straight away; 
but perching as they do on the adjacent Oak tree after their 
feast, many of the rejected seeds must be dropped upon the 
boughs. It has lately been disputed, indeed, that a seed—such 
as the Mistletoe—can germinate after passing through the 
digestive organs of a bird, but this is beyond my knowledge. 
On entering this woodland, after surprising a party of Doves 
that feasted on the Hollies, I have found the ground of the wood 
below the bushes, and below the larger trees on which they have 
rested, literally strewn with bare seeds; and from the clean 
appearance of these seeds, and the masses in which they lay, 
I conjectured that they may have been thrown up by the bird, 
after it has secured the red covering of the seeds, which it 
relishes. If such were the case, the germinating power of the 
seed would not be injured. : 
The Hazel nut is eaten through to its centre by Great Titmouse 
and Squirrel; but the little quadruped, if it stores the nut, must 
sometimes forget where it has laid its treasure; and the bird, 
carrying off the nut as it does, to break on some adjacent hard 
and forked bough, may deposit it ina crack. The Silver Birch, of 
which I have seen only one as a lodger, is manifestly wind-sown. 
The trees of this woodland are naturally haunted by birds. 
Not only do they furnish birds with shelter and with food, but 
with nesting-holes as well. No nesting place is more secure; 
warm, or comfortable than an old, decaying tree. And so this 
This Rowan bore a crop of berries this summer (1898), when the — 
glimmer of their coral red up amongst the Oak leaves made a singular 
