THE YOUNG 



NATUEALIST. 



7 



berrj, which, although not a British 

 plant, is so frequent that we cannot 

 overlook it. At this season perfect 

 flowers and ripe fruit may be observed 

 on it at the same time. Similar in 

 appearance, although much less gen- 

 erally distributed, and entirely depen- 

 dent upon birds for its dissemination, 

 is the classical mistletoe (see Y.N., 

 vol. ii., p. 55). This naturally reminds 

 us of the evergreen holly with its dense 

 clusters of scarlet berries, sheltered 

 and protected by its spiny leaves, yet 

 freely rifled by the merry thrush 

 and garrulous blackbird. Nor must 

 we forget the sombre ivy, and the briUi- 

 ant scarlet acrid arum berries, which 

 are rivalled by the rich orange of the 

 sea-buckthorn. The blue-black mealy 

 covered juniper calls for notice, as does 

 the exquisitely vermillion-tinted fruit 

 of the funereal yew, which shows finely 

 against the foil of its dark green leaves 

 and which is so daintily tempting to 

 the avine palate. A modification of 

 this class is seen in the spindle-tree 

 {Euonymus), in which the richly- 

 coloured capsule opens by four valves, 

 disclosing the deep orange, aril- covered 

 seed within, much more like a flower 

 than a fruit. And, no doubt, birds 

 are often enticed by the large brightly- 

 coloured seeds of the iris, crocus, &c., 

 which are so conspicuous when the 

 large capsules open and disclose them 

 densely packed in shining rows. This 

 long list, which is not by any means 



exhaustive, will help to show the 

 immense variety and the importance 

 of this kind of fruit to both the animal 

 and vegetable kingdoms and their 

 mutual dependance upon each other 

 — the plants providing supplies of 

 food, and the animals reciprocally per- 

 forming good offices to the plant. 

 Although many of the most beautiful 

 fruits, as the honeysuckle, arum, bit- 

 tersweet, yew, belladonna, &c., are 

 nauseous, acrid, emetic, or poisonous 

 to the higher animals, birds seem able 

 to eat any or all of them with impunity. 



The great bulk of our native per- 

 rennial trees and shrubs have fruit of 

 this cliaracter, and those which are 

 devoured with the greatest avidity are 

 the most abundant and widely dis- 

 tributed. A curious coincidence has 

 been noted regarding garden fruit, 

 which by continuous cultivation has 

 increased so much in size, and being 

 dependent on man's care for the per- 

 petuation of the species, the birds have 

 taken to devouring the soft, edible 

 portions, leaving the hard stones and 

 seeds hanging from the parent boughs. 



BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR 

 NESTS AND EGGS. 



By S. L. MosLEY. 

 32, REDSTART. 

 Sylvia phcenicurus, Linn. 

 Phcenicurus, Phoinix (Gr.)=Purplish-red. 

 Oura ( )=A tail. 



Size. — Length, 5^ in. Expanse, about 

 9k in- 



