A BIRDLOVER'S YEAR 



presence of the yellow-hammers. These 

 little birds seem to have made this " little 

 winding road " so particularly their own 

 that it is known as the Yellow-hammers' 

 Lane. 



The yellow-hammer is well known to 

 all country people, for it is one of the most 

 generally diffused species in the British Isles. 

 As a traveller the yellow-hammer is not one 

 of those birds who seek to " travel the 

 uncharted " ; its journeys are local ones. In 

 autumn and winter yellow-hammers form 

 into little companies, often associating with 

 other finches and buntings, and together 

 these form a winged patrol of the hedgerow 

 and country-side. 



But the summer months are the joyous 

 period of the yellow-hammer's existence, 

 and then throughout the whole day one 

 hears its monotonous little song, a song 

 which has such a charm of its own with the 

 slow drawn out cadence of the last separate 

 syllables. 



The greenfinch and chaffinch are also 

 to be seen in large numbers in Yellow- 

 hammer Lane, and during the summer 

 months the gentle little willow wren, that 

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