58 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



Still, even if it be true that the songsters of 

 America equal those of Great Britain — and few 

 unbiassed observers would be inclined to admit it — 

 it is still a noteworthy fact that these tiny islands 

 compete so successfully wdth vast continents in 

 providing a home for all that is best and sweetest 

 in Nature's minstrelsy. 



This is not all. Not only have we the pre-eminent 

 Nightingale, the Skylark, Woodlark, Song Thrush, 

 Blackbird, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Sedge 

 Warbler, Willow Wren, Grey Linnet and a host of 

 others to scatter their sweet notes broadcast amidst 

 woods, gardens and gorse-strewn commons alike, 

 but in this country, nearly all birds of harsh and 

 discordant voice are, for some reason, absent. The 

 loud, meaningless chatter and jarring cries which 

 disturb the glades and forests of so many lands, are 

 here almost unknown. Whoever would hear the 

 true music of birds must come to England. 



The British Warblers differ from each other in 

 important respects — in modes of nest-building, in 

 song, and largely in plumage; but they have all 

 marked characteristics in common. They are, for 

 the most part, summer migrants; reaching these 

 shores chiefly in April and departing before the 

 leaves have fallen from their beloved trees ; they are 

 all musical in differing degrees; they are mainly 

 insectivorous in diet, and they are all harmless; for 

 the small depredations amongst the fruit bushes, 

 principally the currant and the raspberry, which can 

 be laid to the charge of the Garden Warbler and 

 the Blackcap, cannot be treated seriously. 



