i 4 4 



SPRING 



Small birds seem scarce upon the cliffs, by comparison ; but 

 the sheltered hollows have their own little groups of settlers. 

 Wrens push busily among the brakes of wind-clipped black- 

 thorn, and climb the ivy-covered rocks ; stonechats toss from 

 spray to spray of the furze-thickets, and hedge-sparrows live 

 the same quiet searching life on the edge of the precipices as 

 in inland gardens. But the most characteristic small bird of 

 the sea-cliffs is the rock-pipit. It is larger than the common 

 meadow-pipit or titlark of moors and commons, but has much 



ROCK-PIPIT 



the same appearance and restless ways. It breeds among 

 the hanging rocks, hiding its nest behind some screen of 

 white-flowered campion, or among the cushions of pink sea- 

 thrift ; and it hovers with a wavering song-flight in the 

 blackest gulfs. In the warm climate of Cornwall and other 

 parts of the west, the sea-cliffs are bright in spring with a 

 wealth of flowers and vivid verdure. Thrift stains whole 

 headlands pink with its clustered heads ; sea-campion clings 

 in broad white masses, and bluebells cover acre after acre of 

 the hanging slopes. Gorse burns golden in the hollows ; and 





