THE BIRDS OF A HULL TOWN GARDEN. 
By JOHN NICHOLSON. 
ITHER, in the winter, come flocks of starlings and 
sparrows fighting for the best bits of the food thrown 
to them, while the robin and blackbird disdain to 
struggle, but get a respectable living otherwise ; the robin 
closely attending the gardener and pouncing on any choice 
morsel of grub or tender worm. Flocks of larks and field 
fares fly overhead, where also may be seen a solitary snipe, 
or lonely heron winging its way to the heronry at Wassand. 
This fine bright autumn afternoon, eight blue titmice en- 
liven the scene with their rapid, acrobatic motions and pleasant 
twittering. They have scarcely passed away, before a pair 
of great tits make their appearance, and a few brown and 
green linnets pay a last visit to the bare stalks of the tall 
sunflowers, in search of the seeds they love so much, and 
failing these, satisfy themselves on the dahlia seeds, while 
jenny wren sings her sweet song in the willow tree hard by. 
Both the missel thrush and fly-catcher feed their young on 
the lawn, while the song thrush hunts for slugs and snails 
under the bushes. The chaffinclt, pied flycatcher, pied wag- 
tail and yellow wagtail are occasional visitors, and the sparrow 
hawk sometimes causes a flutter among his feathered prey, 
until he seeks new hunting grounds. 
The hedge sparrow is frequently seen, the yellowhammer 
less so, while the night jar and hooded crow pay few visits 
and far between. Jackdaws are common, rooks a daily sight, 
and seagulls only according to weather. 
In summer, swallows, martins, and swifts wheel and 
scream, and in the autumn and winter, wild ducks and wild 
geese quack and trumpet in the darkness. 
The sforzato call of the partridge may sometimes be heard 
as twilight falls, and on the evening of 14th October, 1901, 
one was seen flying across the gardens, from one open space 
to another, in Park Grove, Hull. 
. The corncrake rasps out his harsh cry in the still summer 
air, and the cuckoo flies athwart our garden to rest in the elm 
tree and cry its own name. 
In the late summer, the long-tailed titmouse may be seen, 
and such domestic birds as pigeons, canaries, and ringdoves, 
afford neighbouring boys some excitement in the recovery of 
them. 
Some of the aforesaid birds nest in the neighbourhood, as 
the sparrow, starling, jackdaw, hedgesparrow, thrush, missel 
thrush, blackbird, blue titmouse, flycatcher, martin, swallow, 
and swift. 
