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Bird Notes and News 



joyful yet reverent spirit which should 

 make a true Franciscan. He bids the 

 pilgrims squeeze through trap-doors to 

 see the cave in the bed-rock where Francis 

 slept and prayed before any monastery 

 was built ; he welcomes them into the 

 tiny unadorned chapel where the saint and 

 his first companions held their services. 

 On emerging on to the little terrace over- 

 hanging the gorge, we see over the doorway 

 through which we have passed a faded 

 but pleasant old fresco of the Preaching to 

 the Birds. The guide points out a rugged 

 old ilex where Francis used to converse 

 with them and sing with them " un- 

 officially." As we stand on the single- 

 spanned bridge over the gorge, looking 

 between the branches out to the plain far 

 beyond and below, or gaze up through 

 the dark leaves at the blue sky and the 

 top of Monte Subasio brilliant against it, 

 the whole world seems transformed into 

 bird-song ; the wood rings with it ; our 

 hearts are tuned to it ; our little guide's 

 hearty laughter chimes in. The sense that 

 the greatest of bird-lovers loved this place 

 above all others gives to the familiar 



melodies of Blackcap, Wren and Chaffinch 

 a lovelier and more spiritual meaning. 



On the way back the first Nightingale 

 of the season bursts into song in the olive 

 groves, crowning the joy of the past hour. 

 In the evening, as we sit on the balcony 

 watching the sun set over Perugia, the 

 evening sky is alive with Martins, darting 

 and floating and twittering round the 

 colonnades of the great convent that 

 buttresses the town on the west. For 

 St. Francis's sake these birds are pro- 

 tected in Assisi. As the sun sinks and the 

 far hills glow out in high relief for the last 

 half-hour before dusk, a familiar shape 

 flaps out from the convent walls close 

 beside us. The chestnut-coloured back 

 gleams for a moment in the sun, the 

 purple tail outspread ; then Brother 

 Kestrel swoops back into the unassailable 

 stone sanctuary from whence he came. 

 The Hawk was one of St. Francis's 

 favourite birds ; one of these birds, it is 

 said, used to wake him every morning 

 when he was in retreat on the Verna, and 

 it is good to find it at home under the 

 shadow of his own church walls. 



Mary Trevelyan. 



A portion of the park surrounding 

 Easton Lodge, near Dunmow — itself a 

 surviving portion of Hainault Forest — 

 has been set aside by the Countess of 

 Warwick as a special Bird Sanctuary in 

 memory of Mr. W. H. Hudson, and was 

 formally dedicated by Mr. R. Cunninghame 

 Graham on June 21st. The small house 

 half -hidden in the park, dating from 

 Ehzabethan times, is to contain a col- 

 lection of Mr. Hudson's books. 



The Royal Society for the Protection of 

 Birds has addressed a circular letter to 

 the Municipal Corporations of England, 

 pleading for definite bird sanctuaries in 

 public parks and other Corporation 

 property, after the example set by H.M. 

 Board of Works in the Royal Parks. 

 Liverpool and Manchester have already 

 taken steps in this direction ; so too, 

 it appears, have Bristol, Walsall and 

 Brighton. It is hoped that further replies 



and particulars will be available for the 

 next number of Bird Notes and News. 



A new Norfolk nature-reserve is Scolt 

 Head, a cluster of sand-dunes on an island 

 of about 1,200 acres situated off the 

 north coast of the county. It has been 

 known as the " bird island," but the 

 birds have been greatly reduced by 

 persecution ; and the flora is also inter- 

 esting, especially in the salt marshes 

 between the dunes and the sea. As there 

 is no bridge connecting the island with the 

 mainland, and it is at all times difficult 

 of approach, while a solitary bunaglow 

 is the only dwelling of man, it should 

 not present many problems in watching 

 to the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' 

 Society, who, it is understood, are under- 

 taking the guardianship. The land was 

 purchased from Lord Leicester by public 

 subscription, and the deeds handed over 

 to the National Trust on June II th. 



