Preference for Railways. 151 



below the station, a pair of Great Titmice built 

 their nest two years ago, and successfully brought 

 up their young, regardless of the puffing and 

 rattling of the trains, for the hole was in the 

 inside of the bridge, and only some six feet from 

 the rails of the down line. A little coppice, 

 remnant of a larger wood cut down to make 

 room for the railway, still harbours immense 

 numbers of birds ; here for example I always 

 hear the ringing note of the Lesser Whitethroat ; 

 and here, until a few years ago, a Nightingale 

 rejoiced in the density of the overgrown 

 underwood. 



A Ring-ousel, the only specimen, alive or dead, 

 which I have seen or heard of in these parts, was 

 found dead here one morning some years ago, 

 having come into collision with the telegraph 

 wires in the course of its nocturnal migration. 

 It was preserved and stuffed by the station- 

 master, who showed it to me as a piebald 

 Blackbird. 



A little further down the line is another bridge, 

 in which a Blue-tit found a hole for its nest last 

 year ; this also was in the inside of the bridge, 



