COUNTRY LIFE
IN a considerable experience of bird-nesting I have never, that I can remember, known so many nests deserted. Three thrushes' nests in my garden were deserted, two before any eggs were laid, one after a full clutch had been brooded for a while. There seemed to be no particular reason for the desertion, for none of the nests was in any way damaged, and no sign of a casualty was in evidence. The weather, I think, was wholly at fault. The cold and hail and snow may have quelled even the instincts of spring. Happily some of the smaller birds evinced a greater courage. Certainly wren, chaffinch and robin took little apparent notice of the belated winter. The hive bees showed their usual adapt- ability. They worked furiously and well on the good days and retired to the hive on bad days. When all was over they were seen to have done more than their usual work in creating a new generation. My own experience of the botanical response to belated snow- and frost was not altogether unfavourable The early potatoes (which were quite blackened in places) were not above ground and the strawberries hardly in bloom. The ground was littered with white petals of pear and plum, curiously resembling the snow flakes, but the heart of the flowers and the embryo fruits seemed to be embalmed. And how quickly the daffodils recovered !
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