268 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



hear more of it in one morning in that small 

 rustic village in Berkshire where the first part of 

 this book was written than in a whole summer 

 in one of these West Cornwall villages, so few 

 comparatively are the songsters. Nor was this 

 scarcity in the village only; it was everywhere, as 

 I found when able to get out for a few hours dur- 

 ing my two spring seasons in the place. Close 

 by were the extensive woods of Trevalloe, where 

 I was struck by the extraordinary silence and 

 where I listened in vain for a single note from 

 blackcap, garden-warbler, willow-wren, wood- 

 wren, or redstart. The thrushes, chaffinch, chiff- 

 chaff, and greenfinch were occasionally heard; 

 outside the wood the buntings, chats, and the sky- 

 lark were few and far between. 



This scarcity of small birds is, I think, due in 

 the first place to the extraordinary abundance of 

 the jackdaw, the diligent seeker after small birds' 

 nests, and to the autumn and winter pastime of 

 bush-beating to which men and boys are given in 

 these parts, and which the Cornish authorities 

 refuse to suppress. 



After a time, when, owing to increasing de- 

 bility, I was confined more and more to the 



