COUNTRY LIFE_

the-soft 'shell.'so tclugheriii that-'ever tits-have Much adO to

* * * * their response to the offer of the snow-bunting Christmas card (issued by the Norfolk Naturalists Trust from Surrey

Stn et, Norwich) has been so prompt and thoroughgoing Happy Families

of English trees from Land's End to John o' Groats. The * -* * *•

planting of Coronation trees is, of course, a city as well as

a rural affair ; and a scheme is to be proposed and discussed of Abe English trees usually forgotten is the crab apple.

-lived lon It is -beautiful and unusually g .

Oaks and Oaks • -

MOrrkey:nut is rather softer than most and is more easily altruism. :: --.: • , i •.. - - ...._

remored- from:- its shell. - At*thertametiftle if hung:Up-entire,- .,„,. i, • . - ,, .... , . , * * E* x * All who plant trees should consider varieties as well as -species: There- are oaks- and- oaks,- as _well .aip.applest arid apples.- For example; a wouldFbe afforester of 'oaks- in the West Country, in a district where 'oaks are common;:: was

strongly advised- hi...the specialists to_ sow_ Sussex net_ hocal seed. The best breed of oaks in England is said to

An,Endorsed _Goose -

break it Open.: - - • - One of the oldest bird-myths is of the wren that lieciiine king of birds because it won the altitude record. It perched

—And Repelling Them on an eagle's back, and when the eagle had reached its summit The question how to attract birds is involved with the flew a yard or two higher. Whether small birds actually question how to repel them. A number of correspondents- use big birds as carriers haS been long debated, and the have asked whether there is any way (besides the swinging problem is not yet settled in regard to European birds ; but table) of discouraging starlings which seem to be regarded there seems to be small doubt that the humming-bird prac- us a quite unqualified pest. If some small birds are attracted tises the device. An apparently authentic example reaches by minced food, starlings delight in large chunks and often me from British Columbia. A sportsman shot a Canada have not the patience or desire to pick up minute morsels. goose on its southward migration and found a humming- Personally. I have found that a small—not a large-=-board bird deep in the feathers of the goose's back. It is said suspended by the four corners is never faced by the starlings. that humming-birds are " often " seen to fly from the backs Perhaps the people who find the swinging table ineffective of bigger birds ; but I doubt the frequency of the observe- make it too spaciout. In any garden the fixed table was beset tion. The only experience of the sort that I -remember in by starlings, which fought venomously for its contents ; the annals of British ornithology is of a golden-crested wren and I have scarcely seen one since the firm table was abolished. on the back of an owl. There is nothing inherently unlikely In their stead have been seen, though for too brief periods, in the experience. Small birds will chase big birds and are

yellowhammers, goldfinches and one jenny wren. not at all afraid of a big bird because of its size. I have * * * * seen a great tit feeding its young in the nest of a buzzard, which also was feeding its young. As to weary migrants,

The Watchers Home they will take any rest they can find and quite lose all fear It may interest readers of The Spectator to know that of man. More than once I have handled them on board ship.

* * * • " The greatest gift which Uod has grea practical - agriculturist the. House of Commons has had Is, dirty water makes us clean." the good fortune to attract. His mother, who wrote many

Tar Sprays

enough to know of a remedy that cures a disease. Most of the minor effects of the tar washes (for which the season

- begins) have proved to be -beneficial. For example : in the * * - * * same large orchard .where the . multiplication of red....spiders

has been noticed, the grass is delightfully green and clean, and

Attracting' Birds— come from the famous woods of -Sir George . CoUrtheipe.' it ''. Some recent experiences suggest that -there-is no lure for has been-famous there'sevenlitmdred years or so b,.irenj03-c.-1 birds to be compared With monkey-nuts ,well - sliced and ,a new lease of fame (is I reCorded at the tune)" when the oak minced: Most birds ' are nut-eaters in these circumstances, - for repairing the raNtriged 'timber of Westioinster. Hall was though-only a Very7 few -are so -equipped -...that•-they-can-deld taken‘froni the very same place 1114.150 supplied tlieloilginal 'with a nut in a shell Or a half coconut_ All the finches, timber. I' think, exult in this food: I saw one day (in. a garden on fifteenth century or thereabouts proVided successors trot.--"..14ily The acorns that those old trees let drop in .the the Itent-Sussex border)• over a dozen' fineheinhd-r a miniber,..-, in -the foreSt 'but also, in the roof of WeStroinster- flail_ '/`'he Of tits- jostling one rinether :on a small-tray-Set-close 'a-gagist-_-.. elastic example--of the mistake-, ...etplariling the wrong 'variety the house: -,-Soine birds-can only eat food - that is • either concerns the Walnut. Scarcely a walnut tree in England of very, soft- or if hard, very small in size. Robins and wrens less than four score years hears such solid, sizeable.iWalnirts arc both in this class ; .and-=the -secret-of-attracting- --crl'n, ---at,,the-old trees,-for-the- reason that the nursery,: gardeners e fsertainlythe provision of-food m minute. partieles/ProbablY.,. of the ,day broadcast an inferior, type. Those whOLplaneed any nuts' would serve if put'throngh -a-nut-mill; but the walnuts ' for , their successors were defeated in their fine will feed more sheep than in the old days. One reason, at any Tate, 4tbat:the sprays which fall on the Lrast And appear, to damage it kill the noxious creatures that. make an over.grazed field " sheep-Sick:" The grass recovers and ftnally.benefits

W. BE.A.C11 THOMAS.