38 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



their circumspection when they approach its pre- 

 cincts. Summer by summer, the Spotted Fl_v- 

 catchers nest in the trelUs, and dart from their perch 

 on the raihngs of the lawn. Blackbirds and 

 Thrushes rear their young in the untrimmed hedges 

 or in the great tree-like clusters of rhododendrons. 

 In the broken, mossy wall which skirts the orchard, 

 the Titmice and the Robin build, and from morning 

 to night the Chaffinches and the Willow^ Wrens are 

 to be heard singing in the fruit trees. 



Behind the house the ancient barns are roofed 

 with turf, where moss and various grasses spring, 

 amidst which the Pied Wagtails run, snapping 

 flies, as in a field. The trees fall back here, and 

 the little farmstead, with the stackyard beyond, 

 lies open to the sun. In April the Swallows come, 

 their glossy plumage shining as they dart through 

 the half-opened door into the dim interior of the 

 shed, and a colony of ^Martins have a well-nigh 

 unbroken row of nests beneath the southern eaves. 



But all these are the more familiar guests, and 

 a deeper interest is aroused when the barred plumes 

 of a Spotted Woodpecker can be caught amidst the 

 taller trees, or a Nuthatch be seen moving spirally 

 about the lower bole of the beech. Then to the little 

 kitchen garden, hedged around with thick haw- 

 thorns, the wary Hawfinch steals at times, and the 

 Bullfinches come regularly to feed and to build 

 their small nest in the sprays of holly in the fence. 



In early spring the belt of fir-trees which shelters 

 the garden from the road, appears black in contrast 

 with the light, vivid green of the occasional larches 

 in their midst, and here, tempted by the seclusion — • 



