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THREE BIRDS' POSTS BY ELSIE LINGWOOD.
IN front of our house stand three posts, grey with age and not even straight ; they are very unsightly.—Undoubtedly our friends say to each other, in discreet undertones, " Why on earth don't they remove those hideous things ? " In fact one visitor remarked, very pointedly, that a row of lupins would look pretty " where the posts are." But nothing would induce us to remove them, for upon those posts, more than anything eise in the garden, thefieldglasses have been focused. It seems probable that almost every bird which has visited us has sat for a few moments, often much longer, upon one of them ; occasionally all were occupied at the same time. A Greenfinch, a Robin and a Whitethroat have been observed perched in a row, all ignoring their companions. Every year a Cuckoo has arranged itself upon a post, the grey colour making excellent Camouflage. She sits there for some time, now and againfloppingdown to pick up a morsel to eat. Does she wait for a small bird to leave its nest in the hedge opposite ? Oddly enough, whatever generation they may belong to, the Cuckoos like to keep the same post in the family. Once a young Cuckoo balanced itself upon this special post, opening its beak hopefully to every passing Bird. Blackbirds uttered warning cries but did not actually mob the sitter, a Wilow-wren which was nesting in the herbage below had an attack of hysterics and gave a remarkable Performance, which included a form of aerial somersaults. Then a Chaffinch, looking pathetically small, arrived to drop food into the gaping beak. Suddenly something disturbed the party ; the Cuckooflewto the hedge, the other Birds vanished and the Wilow-wren became normal. Nightingales perch lightly upon the posts, in Aying from one end to the other of the garden ; young Red-backed Shrikes have sat upon them, insistently demanding food from their busy parent. A few years ago a Whinchat spent a day with us, but unfortunately the welcome it received from the other Birds was not a good one and, every time our lovely visitor left its perch to catch an Insect, there was always some Bird ready to intervene, so that the poor Whinchat had to return, still hungry, to its place. The old posts contain cracks which are obviously fßll of good things to eat, and Green Woodpeckers are constantly investigating them. Last year, upon that nearest the house, sat a Bird which had never been seen in the garden before : it was a Spotted Woodpecker, tapping away in grand style. A frantic though silent search with the field glasses, revealed that the newcomer
POLYGONATUM Ramsholt.
MULTIFLORUM, 18th
May,
ALL.
1950. [F.
W.
Simpson.
THREE
BIRDß'
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was not alone, for upon another post, absolutely motionless and perpendicular sat our old friend the Green Woodpecker. After a period of energetic tapping, the Spotted one departed ; and only then did the Green one make a movement: turning his head to make certain that the intruder had gone, he then appeared to examine his back closely as though envious of that handsome black stripe ; finally he put his feathers in order, even going to the top of the post to Stretch his wings before giving the last touches to a prolonged toilet. Undoubtedly it was very vexing to be seen by a distant relative during the shabby season, and not when arrayed in gorgeous spring attire. In autumn and winter Robins claim all the posts as their own ; they have to allow Thrushes and Blackbirds to alight upon them, but the Hedge-sparrows are not tolerated for an instant. Ugly as those posts are, would any bird-lover exchange them for a row of lupins ?
Agaricus campestris, LINN.—A mushroom, weighing 1 lb. 7 ozs. and measuring 1 3 | inches in diameter, over forty-one inches in circumference, was picked recently by Mr. J. H. Arbuthnot, of Valley Farm, Bramfield. (Ipswich paper, 19 September). " A L U M I N O U S M A G N O L I A " (p. 7 7 supra) : explained.—My bedroom window faces south, and the Magnolia is on a west wall next to a window. At 1.40 a.m. on 16 June, 1951, I woke and, looking from my bedroom through the shut window, saw the west window glowing as though from a fire within it. I saw the nearly füll moon was low on the south-west horizon ; and the about right-angle reflection of it on the west window, thrown back through that of my bedroom, caused this glow which disappeared as the moon changed position after a few minutes. These details were so similar to those of 27 August 1950 that no doubt can be entertained that they then caused the recorded luminosity.—BERNARD BARRINGTON ; 19 June. YELLOW CORYDALIS (Corydalis lutea, Auck.).—This plant has appeared growing among the dwarf growth of a Columbine which had been cut back after flowering. For at least the last seven years there has been no sign in my garden of a similar plant and I have not seen one in Southwold. It much resembles the Common Fumitory (to which it is related), except in the colour of the flowers, which are yellow instead of purple, and that its leaves are larger, and not so finely divided.—D. W . COLLINGS.