154 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



never tired of listening to even the poorest of the 

 characteristic species ; even the common bunting was 

 a constant pleasure. In the wide sunny world I 

 preferred him to his neighbour and relation, the 

 yellow-hammer. The sound he emits by way of song 

 is certainly bright, and, like some other bird-voices, it 

 is associated in my mind in hot and brilliant weather 

 with the appearance of water spouting or leaping and 

 sparkling in the sun. Doubtless such expressions as 

 " needles of sound," " splinters," and " shafts," and 

 "jets of sound," &c., to be found hi writers on bird- 

 music, are not wholly metaphorical, but actually ex- 

 press the connection existing in the writer's mind 

 between certain sounds and sights. The common 

 bunting's little outburst of confused or splintered notes 

 is when heard (by me) at the same time mentally seen 

 as a handful of clear water thrown up and breaking 

 into sparkling drops in the sunlight. 



Of the songsters of the furze on the downs the best 

 to my mind is the stonechat. It is true that the 

 linnet has one exquisite note, the equal of which for 

 purest melody and tender expression is not to be 

 found among our feathered vocalists. Those who are 

 so utterly without imagination as to keep a linnet (for 

 the love of it) in a wire prison, cannot hear this note 

 as I hear it. To sing it properly the little bird must 

 be free of the summer sunshine, the wide blue sky 

 and green expanse of earth, the furze bushes, aflame 

 with their winged blossoms and smelling of spice ; for 



