222 CHARACTERISTICS OP COMMON BIRDS. 



taken home to the expectant young; and how far might that he, perhaps 

 five or six miles, for this was usually out on the moor, or heside or over 

 a moorland lake, and I knew well that there were no nests much nearer. 



Sand Martins are usually less sociable, although occasionally a few pairs 

 do take up a temporary abode near the habitations of man, but these are 

 probably ousted stragglers from some over-peopled community; whilst the 

 pretty Martin is so notoriously attached to society that he is as safe almost 

 as master Cock Robin himself, and it is almost a superstition with the 

 common people, that ill-luck always follows any harm offered to his mud 

 habitation; indeed it is no uncommon sight to see a slanting board placed 

 beneath the nests of these birds, to shoot off what may drop from them, 

 where they may happen to be placed above an alehouse settle, a clear 

 proof of the manner in which they are regarded. There is an instance of 

 this in the village of Guestingthorpe, in Essex, which if not now existing, 

 was to be seen for many years, for we all know how constant these birds 

 are in affecting the same actual spot whereon to construct their pretty nests, 

 and how often they repair anew the inroads that a winter's storm have 

 made. 



In rambling about a heathy district, it has always appeared to me that 

 the observer of nature enjoys many advantages; everything around him is 

 wild, so to speak; the creatures whose home is there are more open to 

 observation, he sees them in all phases, and generally in the plenitude of 

 their various natures. Sit still in the soft air of a mild day beside some 

 heathy hillock, and especially if it be evening and you are near some 

 marshy ground, what a variety of studies come under your eye — the king 

 of heath songsters the Skylark, or Lavrock, as the Scotch somewhat poetically 

 term him, after fluttering over the heath-tops with his mate, at length 

 soars upwards amidst the most delightful warblings, until the eye is weary 

 of watching him. If there be a tree near, perhaps a self-sown fir, the 

 Tree Lark humbly imitates his example, singing with out-spread wings 

 as he descends; whilst the Whinchat with his sweet running notes adds 

 yet another charm to the scene. Then in mid-air comes soaring on the 

 Kestrel, with his train of small birds, teazing and dodging him as it were, 

 yet none of these does he seem to regard, as his mode of taking his prey 

 is on the ground, after hovering over it for a short time, although I have 

 seen him pursue a Lark in the air, which, if I remember right, finally 

 escaped him. I recollect on the most unfrequented portion of Bagshot 

 Heath, once witnessing a very interesting and prolonged contest between 

 a Kestrel and a Crow, the struggle being which should get uppermost; the 

 Crow displayed more activity than I could have supposed him capable of, 

 but the Hawk evidently feared coming to close quarters, and although I 

 thought he had many opportunities of striking from above, he did not do 



