COUN TRY LIFE UNDETERRED by the war, that pioneer body in
bird preservation, the Norfolk Naturalists' Trust, have produced their usual Christmas card. The bird selected, by that excellent artist Mr. Harrison, is a yellow wagtail, quaintly perched on a twig that tees it up against a Norfolk sky. What a beautiful bird it is, though less gorgeous than the best of the bunch, the grey wagtail! It is astonishing how large a contribution to the funds of this Trust these cards have contributed. Indeed, one small and most lovely Broad was bought by its means. The card, which is rather smaller than before (but to my thinking rather better on that account), can be purchased with suitable envelopes for 6s. 6d. a dozen or 3s. 6d. a half dozen from Miss C. E. Gay, Victoria Chambers, Bank Plain, Norwich. Some cards from earlier years can still be supplied.
Four Bird Films
In connexion with bird preservation, the most beautiful—and truthful —of films has recently been shown to the International Committee for Bird Preservation. Mr. Higham, who made the film, showed all the various types of country and the birds that inhabit it. For instance, he started in a typical English garden and proceeded all over Great Britain— woodland, fields and hedgerows, mountains and moors of Scotland, the Lake District, the Fens, sandy shores and rocky coasts—and all in the most exquisite photography and great perfection of colour. He showed about 3o species of birds demonstrating how tame they will become, and a particularly interesting shot was a Robin feeding on a man's hand and actually singing at intervals during his meal. He showed an albino lapwing which had taken him seven years to get, as he had observed the various generations till the albino appeared—its immediate predecessor was piebald. A really beautiful picture was a shelduck wading about in a shallow pool with its reflection in the water. During the meeting a high tribute was paid to the work of preservation of birds and heath still carried on by the Poles (who are pioneers in this regard) and the Czechs. Large schemes for the preservation of fauna in Africa and the Pacific are in being waiting the days of peace.
Birds and Barrage The other night, when the anti-aircraft barrage was louder and more continuous than it had been for many months, many birds were awakened—perhaps by the light as well as the noise—and among them the pheasants made more noise than has ever before been noticed. A slight frost and a bright moon may have played their part ; but whatever the reason the birds were greatly agitated, as sometimes they seem to be when a thunderstorm is approaching. Or are animal nerves growing more sensitive to noise? For a week earlier some alerts and all-clears were sounded by way of a practice for A.R.P. wardens, and it was noticed for the first time that the cattle were not a little intrigued. They raised their heads and stood listening—one might fancy—anxiously. It is sur- prising that dogs, which are peculiarly sensitive to noise, as a rule take no notice whatever either of such sounds or—in spite of the most popular of advertisements—of the B.B.C. even if their master's voice—experto crede—is in question.
In the Garden Some lardeners are disturbed at the reluctance of their out-of-door chrysanthemums to flower. They come into small bloom just in time to be destroyed by damp and frost. Of all plants, this needs lightness of soil and encouragement of surface roots, and, of course, like the Michaelmas daisy, the bulky roots must be ruthlessly broken up. In the potager, a useful plant that may be fruitfully sown this month is the corn salad ; but in these days when portable glass is being more and more used and the Dutch frame grows popular, an astonishing variety of vegetables may be sown in late autumn, which was always the spring-time of the maraicher or French gardener. It is astonishing to those who have not been used to the cloche or English equivalent to the French bell-jar how the weather and the season may be defied. For example, all the vegetable marrows have long since been blackened by frost, but a more compact pumpkin or two covered or half-covered by glass is still enlarging its considerable fruits, though the bits of leaves outside the glass are wholly shrivelled. Again, the bush tomatoes are steadily ripening weeks after the rest have been plucked for fear of
Postage on this issue : Inland and Overseas, id.
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