In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury. 201 



Warbler's eg'gs and a Cuckoo's^ and this was the only nest we found. 

 For the last two years one of these little birds has built exactly in 

 the same spot in my garden — in the middle of a hedge of Chinese 

 privet, quite away from the water — and most nights as I retired to 

 bed, about eleven o'clock, I have heard the little bird singing away 

 lustily amid the still silence, towards the end of May. The nests 

 of this bird I generally found built on the land side of the reed 

 beds, where the flag of the reed grew greener and thicker, and not 

 so much in the middle of the bed, where I at first looked for them. 

 When I once discovered this I found as many nests as one wished. 

 They sometimes build on the rushes growing actually in the water, 

 but of the numerous nests I found, three were built on the land side 

 o£ the bed to one within the bed itself, or in reeds growing in the 

 water. 



Philomela Luscinia. " The Nightingale.'' Abundant in our 

 district, nay ! in some particular spots you might almost say a 

 nuisance, from their incessant song. In the neighbouring parish of 

 Alderbury, and in Clarendon Woods, they may really be said to 

 swarm, being as numerous there as the Reed Warblers are in the 

 meadows just below them. As I have walked from Britford to 

 Clarendon — some two or three miles — I am sure you might have 

 counted a score of them, their notes surrounding you on all sides, 

 as you walk along the road-side fringed by copses, and through the 

 lovely rides of Clarendon Woods. It is_astonishing how few people 

 seem to know the nightingale by sight, when they see one. They 

 imagine, it would appear, that their external beauty must coincide 

 with the unrivalled nature of their note. Therefore, for the benefit 

 of those who do not know their little friend, I would just say, that 

 if they see a little brown bird, uncommonly like a Robin in its 

 actions, but not quite so plump as our little red-breasted friend, and 

 with a rather longer tail, of a ruddy brown colour, they will have 

 seen that wonderful performer whose song has been the subject of 

 author and poet from time immemorial, but which, if they are 

 incapable of appreciating (and alas ! I have known many who per- 

 sistently and provokingly have declared that they should not have 

 thought it superior to any other bird) you had better give them up 



