COUNTRY LIFE
A PARTICULAR task--of obligation and pleasure—is recommended when cold weather comes in early spring. Nearly all birds—including, as is often forgotten, game birds—are in their greatest need of food in spring before insect life is forthcoming ; very early broods of young duck, for example, may die outright of starvation. Domestic poultry need more food in March when they resume egg-laying than in the winter, as those who feed them know well by daily observation. So our bird-tables, if we remember them and continue winter work, are more populous now than ever and seem to attract species of bird that had held aloof ; and greater hunger entails, as a rule, greater thirst. I noticed, for example, the other day that a robin began to drink from a small bowl on the bird- table before he fell to on the food. A great many people, I fancy, have a prejudice in favour of tits and put out their favourite foods ; but it is to be remembered that all birds seek fatty foods ; witness the numbers that are attracted by the fatty coating of the clinkers on a sewage farm!
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