112 BIRDS AND MAN 



It is also probably the fact that those who are 

 not students, or close observers of bird life, seldom 

 know more than a very few of the most common 

 species ; and that when they hear a note that 

 pleases them they set it down to one of the half- 

 dozen or three or four songsters whose names they 

 remember. I met with an amusing instance of 

 this common mistake at a spot in the west of Eng- 

 land, where I visited a castle on a hill, and was 

 shown over the beautiful but steep grounds by a 

 stout old dame, whose breath and temper were 

 ahke short. It was a bright morning in May, and 

 the birds were in full song. As we walked through 

 the shubbery a blackcap burst into a torrent of 

 wild heart- enlivening melody from amidst the 

 foliage not more than three yards away. " How 

 well that blackcap sings ! " I remarked. " That 

 blackbird," she corrected ; " yes, it sings well." 

 She stuck to it that it was a blackbird, and to prove 

 that I was wrong assured me that there were no 

 blackcaps there. Finding that I refused to ac- 

 knowledge myself in error, she got cross and dropped 

 into sullen silence ; but ten or fifteen minutes 

 later she returned of her own accord to the sub- 

 ject. " I've been thinking, sir," she said, " that 

 you must be right. I said there are no blackcaps 



