The spring hunger of the birds begins to augment rapidly.
They eat perhaps twice as much now as in full winter, when like grizzly bears or turtles they live to some extent on the fat that they have stored up against a cold and foodless world. Their whole nature changes as the new activity disperses the fatty lethargy, which prevents even the domestic hen (if fed on fatty grains) ftom laying eggs before spring comes. The provisioning of the bird-table needs extra supplies as the feeding hours lengthen ; and pays bigger dividends as the birds come out of their congregations and separate into pairs. Over and above that more birds come into gardens. How many of us have not seen a red linnet about the premises for months, but are quite sure that linnets' nests will outnumber all others in our hedges and bushes, unless the greenfinch and chaffinch prove rivals In my garden the newest arrivals at the bird-table are finches ; and the flocks of goldfinches seen recently are breaking up. May they escape the trappers who last year netted many in my
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