Recently published Ornithological Works. 387 
lias devoted an area of about 500 acres of park-land, thickets, 
and forest to this purpose. 
His methods consist, first of all, in the provision of nesting- 
boxes for those birds, such as Woodpeckers, Tits, Stock- 
Doves, Kestrels, and Owls, which naturally breed in holes of 
trees. Baron von Berlepsch has, after many failures, planned 
what he believes to be a perfect imitation of a natural 
Woodpecker’s nest-hole, and he finds that at least 90 per 
cent, of the boxes placed in his woods at Seebach are occupied 
the first year. 
Another method adopted by the Baron is the formation of 
special plantations of thicket for birds which breed in the 
open. Very precise directions are given for planting such 
thickets. The most satisfactory shrub was found to be 
White-thorn ( Cratagus oxyacantha ) while the Hornbeam 
(Carpinus betulus) was much utilized, with a few Mountain 
Ashes, Bed Cedars, and Firs, interspersed. By careful 
pruning and cutting out completely impenetrable thickets 
can be formed in about nine years, and so satisfactory is the 
result that in one particular instance 85 nests were found in 
one plantation measuring only 230 yards long and 8 yards 
wide. 
Another chapter of the book contains an account of the 
methods of feeding birds in winter by food-trees and food- 
bells, and other ingenious contrivances, for the construction 
of which full directions are given. 
There can be no doubt that in Germany, owing to the rigid 
method of forestry, by which all dead and decaying trees 
and branches are removed, and because of the comparative 
absence of hedges and coverts, the smaller birds are not 
nearly so abundant as they are in England, and that 
Baron von Bcrlepsch’s instructions are very valuable for the 
encouragement of birds which are so necessary for successful 
agriculture. It is to be hoped, therefore, that his example 
may be followed in other parts of Germany and in other 
countries, and that the inestimable value of insectivorous 
birds in all agricultural and horticultural operations may be 
more generally recognised. 
