130 BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



tree in its prime. The sap which exudes from the 

 mouths of the holes made by the goat-moth caterpillar 

 is particularly attractive to many insects. Hornets 

 may constantly be seen visiting the trees from which 

 it exudes, while its fermenting sweetness acts as a bait 

 to the stag-beetle and to many butterflies. Upon 

 one occasion we noted that some alders much attacked 

 by goat-moth had drawn no less than twenty-five 

 red -admiral butterflies to the spot. All were in perfect 

 condition and formed a brilliant picture. Few are the 

 localities where one may now hope to watch the buoyant 

 flight of the purple-emperor round the tops of the 

 tallest oaks or the graceful evolutions of the white 

 admiral. Some of our finer English butterflies seem 

 to be dying out in a way which cannot be altogether 

 accounted for by the large increase in the number of 

 those who wield the net. 



Teeming as they do with insect life, it will easily 

 be understood why oak-woods are frequented by so 

 many birds. Compare in this respect a grove of oaks, 

 all alive with the songs and movements of birds, with 

 the silent and deserted pine-wood. When the horn- 

 beam grows intermixed with the oak, as at Epping 

 and in many of the woodlands to the north of London, 

 we shall find the shy Hawfinch, whose big conical 

 bill is strong enough to crush a cherry stone. Nutshells 

 firmly placed in crevices of the bark are sure token of the 

 presence of the Nuthatch, which fixes them thus that 



