116 
ADDENDUM. 
Birds and Animals as Aids to the Forester. 
“ Seriously (and not without good cause) as our British foresters object to 
the mischief done by squirrels in nibbling and breaking off the young shoots of 
growing timber, it cannot be denied that they are useful helpers as nurserymen, and 
constantly practise Sir Walter Scott’s great maxim, ‘ Aye be stickin’ in a tree.’ 
“ Fpr they are most provident little people, and, while enjoying their full 
share of good things in the present, do not fail to lay up abundant stores for wintry 
days. They establish subterranean granaries, in which they conceal all manner of 
nuts and seeds; and as they are always busy either eating or storing, they contrive in 
the course of the autumn to conceal ten times more material than they ever require. 
“ So these carefully-buried seeds spring up and become the nurslings of the 
forest; or, in the open country, they grow up singly, where they have room to 
expand ; and there is no doubt that many of the noblest trees which give beauty to 
the land owe their existence to the provident instincts of these wise little folk.”— 
(“ Granite Crags of California,” by C. F. Gordon Cumming, p. 318.) 
“ Squirrels are not nature’s only good nurserymen. Rooks are equally 
useful, from their habit of burying both fir-cones and acorns for future use. An 
authentic instance of this is mentioned in a ‘ Natural History of Westmoreland and 
Cumberland,’ published in 1709, in which the author, Mr. Robinson, tells how he 
watched c a flock of crows ’ planting acorns, and how, a quarter of a century later, 
he found that these acorns had produced a grove of oaks tall enough for crows to 
build in.”—( lb ., p. 319.) 
I looked up Gilbert White, of Selborne, but, strange to say, he does not 
appear to have recorded evidence on the subject. 
I then wrote to Mr. Etheridge, Curator of the Australian Museum, who 
obligingly writes :— 
(1) And I have to inform you that I know of no Australian animals that bury seeds, nor can I 
find any suggestion of the same in literature, nor do I know personally of any bird doing so, but will 
enquire of Mr. North on his return from the country. 
(2) I now send you Mr. North’s report on your question, “ Do any of our native birds and 
mammals plant trees in this way 1” A. “ No. I know of ‘ magpies’ ( Gymnorhina) hiding various articles 
(seeds among them) under low, spreading bushes, but not of any bird burying seeds.” 
Perhaps the matter has escaped the attention of our bush naturalists. 
SUPPLEMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS. 
Upper Richmond River at Kyogle, showing rich brush vegetation— Eugenias, Backhousia, 
Phyllanthus, ifec.-—(Kerry, photo.) 
Ellenborough River (north of the Manning), just above the Falls. 
Ellenborough Gorge, showing the Falls. (Both pictures showing rich brush forest vegetation, and 
presented by Mr. G. S. Hill, of Wingham.) 
