COUNTRY . LIFE
Two small Cockney boys, emigrated to my part of the country, were returning to their lodging after a day's work in the fields. They had been gathering potatoes with zeal and efficiency, and their boots were covered with dirt. A passer-by, seeing this, asked them pleasantly whether they had been playing football. He might as well have asked a V.C. why he was not in uniform. The elder boy, aged about eleven, replied with scorn : " Naou. We've been 'elping to feed the popperlation." If owners of certain country houses had as good an object, it would be well for the nation.
Nesting Pigeons
The enquiry set afoot by the Oxford biologists, and carried out inde- pendently in some of the counties, has produced one result that will perhaps astonish many observers. Woodpigeons, so it is asserted, nest more frequently in August than in June. We are all accustomed to the cooing of pigeons in early autumn, and song is usually an accompaniment of mating ; but that nests are most frequent in August is a distinctly unexpected conclusion. As to the number of birds which nest within Britain, considerable colonies have been found in fir plantations, while large areas where evergreen trees are few are almost restless. It remains true, though the point is not made in the report, that the huge flocks— already in evidence—are composed largely of immigrants, many from neighbouring countries on the Continent, including France.
A Naturalists' Card
Is it too early to think of Christmas cards? Not very many are being printed, but there are a certain number of old cards in existence. For example: the Norfolk Naturalists' Trust, which has helped its funds substantially each year by its coloured picture of some attractive bird, is offering for sale past sitters to the artist: Snow bunting, shelduck, bearded tit, avocet, stonechat and others. They are obtainable at 3s. 6d. a half-dgzen, including envelopes and postage, from Miss C. E. Gay, Victoria Chambers, Bank Plain, Norwich.
African Fauna
How great is " the charm of birds " may be illustrated by a quotation from the letters of a young British naturalist soldiering in Pretoria. He enclosed a list of 166 birds identified within a few days. "There were flocks of quail-finches, and M. says you can get los. a pair for them in Cape Town, and reckons we saw about £5oo worth of them. When I said: " Look at those orange-breasted waxbills," he said, "no good ; they cost only 7s. 6d. a pair." A greenshank and a common sandpiper were the only European migrants that were noticed. The said M. is a specialist on snakes "and walks about the country with a bagful hanging from the belt of his uniform, and is scornful about the danger of being bitten (even by the species called bitus)." On one trip he and his friend turned over innumerable stones to find snakes: "What we did find were the prettiest and smallest mice I have even seen, like harvest mice. One took refuge inside a cartridge case." Among plants described was the scarlet waxy- flowered kaffirboom. He was a brother of this young naturalist, who lay down in the worst of the retreat to Dunkirk to watch a hoopoe, which was new to him.
In the Garden The supply of tomatoes from my small, cold—very cold—greenhouse continues, and has been increased by device of planting the side shoots from the lower part of the plant. These are now full of colouring fruit. The Vegetable Drugs Coalmine.: (which had an exhibition at Kew Gardens, an address that will find them) are asking for no fewer than 1,500 tons of rosehips! The new fact brought out is that the fruit of garden roses is as useful as the wild hips. On the subject of wild berries, my hens eat greedily any elder berries I give them. They should be given in moderation, like nuts and acorns. For some unknown reason the Light Sussex were more eager for the berries than crossbred Rhode Island Reds. Inquiries have reached me as to the use of horse chestnuts as fodder. They have some value for the extraction of certain chemicals, and are not actively poisonous ; but the general experience is that they are too severe on the digestive apparatus for practical use. Another inquiry concerns the fruit of the pyrus japonica. This lovely shrub : 3 quince rather than a pear and occasionally sets a good deal of frail. This makes an excellent jelly, flavoured to choice.
W. BEACH THOMAS.
Postage on this issue : Inland and Overseas, id.
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