EVERGREENS AND BIRD LIFE. 347 



EVERGREENS AND BIRD LIFE. 



He who studies animate and inanimate Nature in all 

 its bearings will find relations of the most complex 

 character existing between widely different objects. 

 That such relations, for instance, exist between ever- 

 green plants and birds, is manifest to every observer of 

 Nature ; and to this subject, therefore, I intend devoting 

 a few of the pages of this little volume, partly with the 

 view of furthering the cultivation of evergreens, whose 

 ornamental qualities equal, if they do not exceed, any 

 other objects of the sylvan world, and partly to encourage 

 the protection of the smaller birds around us. 



Those insessorial birds whose hardy temperament 

 allows them to remain on our shores at all seasons of the 

 year, naturally require some place of safety whither to 

 retire from the strife of the warring elements in the 

 winter months. Can we conceive of anything more 

 suitable for this purpose and meeting all conditions than 

 the ever verdant evergreen, which at all times of the year 

 is found clothed in beautiful foliage. When November's 

 blasts have robbed other trees of their arboreal covering, 

 and all is cold and cheerless, the holly, yew, ivy, or 

 stately fir spread out their fohage, enticing by their 

 warmth and shelter the feathered tribes in countless 

 numbers. If, therefore, these useful trees were absent 

 from our land, the number of resident birds and winter 

 visitants would greatly decrease. In summer the 



