6 PREPARATORY WALK LNTO THE COUNTRY. 



as it flies before us, then hovers a while, still singing, plunges 

 into the bush, and emerges at a little distance. Scarcely two 

 birds of this species have the same song, or at least, the voices 

 of individuals differ greatly, and the parts of the performance 

 are variously arranged. Although Larks also differ somewhat 

 in this respect, there seems more uniformity in their song, so 

 that an inattentive listener would scarcely perceive any differ- 

 ence between one individual and another. From among the 

 trees by the brook issues the simple but finely cadenced song 

 of the "Willow Wren. The restlessness and frequent cheep of 

 that Pied Wagtail, as it now runs along the pebbly beach, 

 then betakes itself to a tree, and presently darts over head, 

 betray its anxiety for its young. From the plantation on the 

 hill side come at intervals the loud and mellow notes of the 

 Blackbird, and now the delightfully modulated strain of the 

 Garden Warbler. Other sounds mingle w^ith these, but we 

 have heard enough to remind us of our former observations on 

 the Cantatores. In the border of the grassy field, you may 

 see running along a solitary Partridge, and several Wood- 

 pigeons wend their way toward the distant wood. At present 

 we have little chance of meeting with any other Rasores or 

 Gemitores. 



On that columnar crag is the nest of a Kestrel, of which the 

 situation is marked by a white spot, and in the wood beneath it 

 one sometimes meets with the Tawny Owl. How beautifully 

 these Swallows skim over the pool, now and then dipjnng as it 

 were into the water ! Some of them have fixed their nests in 

 the window-corners of the farm-house, while others inhabit the 

 holes of that sand-pit. To the Raptores and Volitatores, of 

 which these birds are representatives, our labours will present- 

 ly be directed. On the bank of the stream, at the commence- 

 ment of that beautiful wood, there used to be the nest, or at 

 least the hole, of a Kingfisher, the only permanently resident 

 representative of the group which I name Jaculatores ; and 

 on the trunks of those tall trees, should one look sharply, he 

 might discover the Creeper, which belongs to our Reptatores ; 

 but the ScANsoREs are so rare in this part of the country that 

 we have no chance of meeting with a Woodpecker. 



