124 LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 



but no ! he goes on with renewed vigour for another period. As 

 you never know when the ducks will alight, so you can never tell 

 when he will end." The widgeon alone of the duck tribe foraged 

 during the day, and they were always to be seen plucking grass near 

 the plover swamp. At night all the birds on the lake flew off to 

 their feeding grounds, with the exception of the coots and the water- 

 hens. There was a particular spot in the park where, for about an 

 hour, you might hear a continuous rushing noise overhead, after the 

 feathered host had commenced their nocturnal flight. 



To speak of the land birds would be to write a considerable 

 treatise on ornithology, and I must dismiss them with one or two 

 slight remarks. On a July evening you could usually see the night- 

 jar either perched upon, or flying about some oaks in a meadow, and 

 if you crept up quietly you could observe that this bird always sits 

 lengthways on a bough, and never across it. When you whistled 

 sharply, the night-jar would answer, and unless you replied, it went 

 on calling till you whistled again. I once kept up this species of 

 dialogue for a quarter of an hour. A man with a cunning voice 

 might doubtless draw out many kinds of birds. How the owl can 

 be enticed into a colloquy is known from Wordsworth's description 

 of the boy at Winander.* 



" With fingers interwove, both hands 

 Pressed closely palm to palm, and to his mouth 

 Uplifted, he, as through an instrument, 

 Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls 

 That they might answer him. And they would shout 

 Across the wat'ry vale ; and shout again 

 Responsive to his call, with quiv'ring peals 

 And long halloos, and screams, and echoes loud 

 Redoubled, and redoubled ; concourse wild 

 Of mirth and jocund din ! " 



Any one can make a corn-crake come from the far side of a meadow, 

 and in old times the use of quail calls was general in England. 

 Waterton had a curious contrivance of the kind which had belonged 

 to his great-grandfather. 



* His name was William Raincock. He was a school-fellow of Wordsworth, 

 and died at twelve years of age. 



