340 THE WREN, THE HEDGE SPARROW, AND THE ROBIN. 



not put out the eyes of the poor chaffinch, though, by doing so, I 

 might render its melody ten times sweeter than that of the sweet 

 nightingale itself. Oh tnat the potentate, in whose dominions this 

 little bird is doomed to such a cruel fate, would pass an edict to for- 

 bid the perpetration of the barbarous deed ! Then would I exclaim, 

 " O king of men, thy act is worthy of a royal heart. That kind 

 Being, who is a friend to the friendless, shall recompense thee for 

 this." 



February 16, 1835. This morning the chaffinch sang for the first 

 time this season. 



RARE OCCURRENCE. November 30, 1849. This day was calm and 

 sunny ; but there had been a keen frost during the night. At half- 

 past nine in the morning, a chaffinch was singing in full song, on 

 one of the sycamore trees on this island. I watched it while it was 

 singing, and I left it singing. This was the first wild chaffinch I ever 

 heard sing later than the middle of July. From one of Watertoris 

 note-books. 



THE WREN, THE HEDGE SPARROW, AND 

 THE ROBIN. 



THE song of these three well-known warblers may be termed 

 perennial. Formerly it was very rare for me to hear the notes 

 of the second, whilst the storms of winter raged through this little 

 valley. But now, it is otherwise ; for the yew shrubs, which have 

 grown up into a spacious cover, seem to be more congenial to the 

 habits of the hedge sparrow than any other evergreen ; and it may 

 be seen perched near the top of these, and warbling there, from time 

 to time, in every month of the year. 



As I am not yet a convert to the necessity or advantage of giving 

 to many of our British birds the new and jaw-breaking names which 

 appear on the page of modern ornithology, I will content myself 

 with the old nomenclature, so well known to every village lad 

 throughout the land. 



