10 AUGUST 1944, Page 11

Birds and the Ministry The complete conversion of the Ministry

of Agriculture to belief in the utility of bird is worth further attention. A recent article in their excellent journal lays especial stress on the need for more nesting boxes and gives account of a large suburb where boxes of many sorts were all occupied, by robins and spotted fly-catchers as well as tits. It records also the nesting even of wry-necks—a diminishing species—and of greater spotted woodpeckers—an increasing species—in garden nesting boxes. On this subject wrens (which are with the more numerous species) have built in a nesting box previously used by blue tits. They superflously roofed the nest in disregard of the existing cover.