I4Q BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



birds, for whose benefit their parents have just spiked 

 upon a thorn a freshly-killed nestling whitethroat. 

 The young Woodpeckers have left the nest-hole and 

 creep about the bole of the tree in which they 

 were hatched. 



Family parties of Goldfinches, amongst which the 

 newly-fledged " grey pates " are conspicuous, sport 

 amongst the ragwort and knapweed and all the gay- 

 flowered tangle of weedy field-corners. No bird 

 has had more cause to rejoice over the depressed 

 state of the farming industry, for uncleared fallows 

 quickly revert to the condition of a goldfinches' 

 paradise. 



On all sides we meet with this family life, and see 

 the education of the young birds proceeding. There 

 is the weird outcry of Brown Owls in the plantation 

 on moonlight nights, when the rising generation is 

 being initiated into the mysteries pf mousing. Less 

 commendable is the careful foresight of Blackbirds 

 in leading their spotted-breasted young to the currant 

 bushes. The Hawfinch will sometimes join in a 

 raid on the garden, and has been known to, destroy 

 row after row of peas, biting across every pod. 



A.s we cross the heath, a Nightjar rises before us, 

 tumbling and fluttering, finally alighting in a cart-rut 

 with wings outspread and quivering. This behaviour 

 is, explained as we find her two dowrry young, wide- 

 mouthed as frpgs,, crouching close to the turf . 



