( 2 35 ) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
Bird Life in the 
“ Stripe.’’ 
near the middle of the wood a pair of 
Reed Buntings nested till the branches 
of the trees spread and crowded them 
out. A very handsome fellow the male 
bird was as he sat on the hedge adorned 
with his black cap and white band round 
his neck, singing his jerky, but not un¬ 
pleasant song. With the replanting of 
the “ Stripe ” many pairs of Yellow 
Buntings made their appearance, and 
unlike some varieties of the bird king¬ 
dom, they adapted themselves to the 
different changes that the wood passed 
through. When the trees were in their 
infancy they nested amidst the brambles 
and matted grass, but as the trees shot 
upwards they also raised their nests 
from a lower to a higher platform. In 
the branches of the spruces was the 
place to seek them. Once I found one 
built in the fork of a Scotch fir. I have 
never seen another in such a position. 
This is the first place I remember find¬ 
ing a nest with a clutch of five eggs; 
three and four being the usual number. 
You could hear the males lamenting to 
one another all day long, on the hot 
and drowsy summer days, about having 
only “a little piece of bread and no 
cheese.” 
Voices of the Night. 
The “crow” of the Pheasant, and 
the “ churr ” of the Partridge, were both 
to be heard at nightfall, and I often 
stumbled across their nests amidst the 
bracken. The Partridge has forsaken 
the wood long ago, for the open fields, 
but the Pheasant still retains its hold, 
and a nest can be found every summer 
by diligent searching. As years passed 
by, the trees grew taller and taller, and 
the branches spread across the open 
spaces till they touched one another. 
Birds that loved the small trees and the 
tangled undergrowth have now forsaken 
the “ Stripe,” but other birds have come 
to take up their places. The Thrush 
tribe are now prominent dwellers of the 
wood. The Song Thrush and the 
Blackbird sing their mellow lays in the 
early dawn and evening twilight, and 
many a brood of Thrushes are reared 
here every summer. The Missel Thrush, 
the earliest singer of the year, pipes 
from the tallest tree in the wood, loud, 
crisp, and clear, as he sturdily defies 
the biting winds of the early spring. 
His nest, too, I have found in the fork 
of a Scotch fir, as high as the average 
height of a man, built of moss and hay, 
with pieces of wool attached, for they 
dearly love a little outside display. 
The Finches not Absent. 
The Finch tribe are also represented. 
The Chaffinch has come dressed in his 
bridal array, and his cheerful voice en¬ 
livens the wood, as he sings and shows 
off all his finery to the admiration of 
his more soberly-attired little bride. 
They have built their wonderful nest of 
lichen and moss beneath the nodding 
tassels of the larch. The Green Linnet 
nests also in the spruce trees. They 
dearly love a feathery spruce branch for 
that purpose. When the sun shines 
bright and warm the Greenbird sings 
his best. To vary the monotony of his 
long drawn notes, he takes a turn in the 
air, circling round the tree tops with 
wings outstretched, at intervals making 
sidelong dashes, like leaves driven by 
the wind on a winter’s day. 
A Joyous Sound. 
Of all the sounds that haunt the wood 
is the wedding season of the birds. One 
of the pleasantest is the cooing of the 
Wood Pigeon as he talks so lovingly 
to the partner of his joys, so soft and 
full of symapthy, all done to encourage 
her to sit patiently on the two white eggs 
that I saw shining through the handful 
of twigs that went to make up their 
nest. And listen, the Magpies have re¬ 
turned, they have found a tree tall 
enough once more to please them for a 
nesting site. But, once again, the 
“ Stripe ” has undergone another change. 
The trees were becoming so densely 
packed that they were interfering with 
the free growth of each other, and, in 
the winter the laird sent his men and 
judiciously thinned them out to give 
those that were left light and life, so 
that they might grow into goodly timber. 
With the alterations that have been 
made in the wood, bird life will follow 
suit accordingly. 
