12 SUMMER VISITORS TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 



nest, with a green caterpillar in his bill. Young night- 

 ingales in a nest are a good instance of protective colouring, 

 for I have known it quite hard to distinguish them from a 

 small heap of dead leaves. 



Let us now leave the Leigh Woods and Downs, and make 

 a small expedition to Cadburj Camp, or rather that long 

 ridge which stretches from the camp to Clevedon. It is 

 covered with gorse and bracken and small bramble bushes. 

 A line of telegraph wires, which are always favourite perch- 

 ing places of birds, runs along the top. As soon as we 

 arrive we shall see the tree pipit perched there, and shall be 

 able to watch him as he keeps rising quickly high in the 

 air, and then slowly falling back to his perch with wings 

 raised and tail spread, uttering those delightful long notes 

 as he descends. His nest is a little way down the bank, 

 snugly sheltered by the bracken, but we may watch long 

 before the bird will help us find it. The gorse on the top of 

 the hill and the trees half-way down are full of birds, some 

 visitors and some residents ; but we have come to see one 

 particular visitor. Before we have walked very far, espe- 

 cially if we are there towards evening, we shall probably 

 hear a curious noise somewhat like that of a grasshopper, or 

 perhaps more like the noise made by the reel of a fishing 

 rod. It is continuous for several seconds at a time, and even 

 minutes, and it is difficult to decide from which direction it 

 comes. At last we shall discover a small brown bird with 

 a curiously shaped tail perclied on the top of a gorse bush 

 not far from us, reeling with all his might. While we are 

 watching him, he will dive down into the bush, and slip 

 about through the thick branches like a mouse till he is out 

 of sight. It is the grasshopper warbler, not by any means 

 a common bird, though sometimes fairly abundant in suitable 

 localities. He seems equally happy among the gorse of a 



