COUNTRY LIFE
BIRDS have their ups and downs, and since we generally rejo the ups, it may be pleasing to believe that hawfinches are gr commoner. They have been numerous, for example, in Herd shire, wh.tre they are often seen feeding on the seeds of the beam, which flourishes especially in Herts and Essex. Here recent experience from Kent. Under a holly tree, which had most of its berries, a company of twelve hawfinches were seen other day cracking at the seeds of the berries. The gardener, is a Sussex countryman and very knowledgeable about birds, had never seen so many together. They made a very co picture on the carpet of red berries. The incident emph the strength of that powerful mother-of-pearl beak. The can of the holly seed is so hard that the kernel takes two years germinate. I should question whether any other bird choos crush it. As to bird populations in general, it is alleged (by expert) that the house-sparrow is diminishing in numbers. opinion suggests wishful-thinking. Birds that in my experience much rarer than they were are the wryneck, or cuckoo's mate, the redstart.
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