ir PEEFACE. 



country that cuckoos were getting scarce, but here 

 the notes of the cuckoo echoed all day long, and the 

 birds often flew over the house. Doves cooed, black- 

 birds whistled, thrushes sang, jays called, wood- 

 pigeons uttered the old familiar notes in the little 

 copse hard by. Even a heron went over now and 

 then, and in the evening from the window I could 

 hear .partridges calling each other to roost. 



Along the roads and lanes the quantity and variety 

 of life in the hedges was really astonishing. Mag- 

 pies, jays, woodpeckers both green and pied kestrels 

 hovering overhead, sparrow-hawks darting over gate- 

 ways, hares by the clover, weasels on the mounds, 

 stoats at the edge of the corn. I missed but two 

 birds, the corncrake and the grasshopper lark, and 

 found these another season. Two squirrels one day 

 ran along the palings and up into a guelder-rose 

 tree in the garden. As for the finches and sparrows 

 their number was past calculation. There was 

 material for many years' observation, and finding 

 myself so unexpectedly in the midst of these things, 

 I was led to make the following sketches, which were 

 published in The Standard, and are now reprinted by 

 permission. 



The question may be asked : Why have you not 

 indicated in every case the precise locality where you 

 were so pleased ? Why not mention the exact hedge, 

 the particular meadow? Because no two persons 

 look at the same thing with the same eyes. To me 

 this spot may be attractive, to you another ; a third 

 thinks yonder gnarled oak the most artistic. Nor 

 could I guarantee that every one should see the same 



