BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 65 



that it should be known that such a crime was 

 possible. 



All those birds that had finished rearing their 

 young by the sixteenth of June were fortunate, for 

 on the morning of that day a great and continuous 

 shouting, with gun-firing, banging on old brass and 

 iron utensils, with various other loud, unusual 

 noises, were heard at one extremity of the village, 

 and continued with occasional quiet intervals until 

 evening. This tempest of rude sounds spread from 

 day to day, until the entire area of the village and 

 the surrounding orchards was involved, and the 

 poor birds that were tied to the spots where their 

 treasures were must have existed in a state of con- 

 stant trepidation. For now the cherries were fast 

 ripening, and the fruit-eating birds, especially the 

 thrushes and blackbirds, were inflamed at the gleam 

 of crimson colour among the leaves. In the very 

 large orchards men and boys were stationed all day 

 long, yelling and firing off guns to frighten the 

 marauders. In the smaller orchards the trees were 

 decorated with whirhgigs of coloured paper ; ancient 

 hats, among which were some of the quaintly shaped 

 chimney-pots of a past generation ; old coats and 

 waistcoats and trousers, and rags of all colours to 

 flutter in the wind ; and these objects were usually 

 considered a sufficient protection. Some of the 

 birds, wiser than their fellows, were not to be kept 



