SQUIRRELS AND SISKINS
Where large areas have been planted with conifers, the bird and animal life that goes with these trees thrives. One of the hopeful things is that the red squirrel stands a better chance of living in firs, where the grey squirrel does not care to exist. Another thing about conifers is that they are beloved of small birds that are very attractive. Among those I take a great delight in seeing are long-tailed tits and siskins. Siskins are not uncommon in Scotland. In my part of the world they have hitherto been quite rare, but a friend who lives in the heall of a forestry area and spends a great deal of time out of doors tells me that he has reason to believe that the sisk in is breeding in the district to an increasing degree. One has to be something of a contortionist to observe siskins. They seem to perch and move at all angles as they search the branches and bark for insects, or sport in the high needled limbs of pines, but when they and the other small birds are about, the conifer woods are not dead woods, as Hudson claimed, at least, so far as I am concerned.
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