THE NATURAL HISTORY 



[LETT. 



artful creature, skulking in the thickest part of a bush : and will 

 sing at a yard distance, provided it be concealed. I was obliged 

 to get a person to go on the other side of the hedge where it 

 haunted : and then it would run, creeping like a mouse, before 

 us for a hundred yards together, through the bottom of the 

 thorns ; yet it would not come into fair sight : but in a morning 



THK. OOLDEN-CBOWXU1 WKKN. 



early, and when undisturbed, it sings on the top of a twig, gaping 

 and shivering with its wings. Mr. Ray himself had no know- 

 ledge of this bird, but received his account from Mr. Johnson, 

 who apparently confounds it with the Reguli non cristati, from 

 which it is very distinct. 



The fly-catcher (Stoparola, Ray) has not yet appeared ; it 

 usually breeds in my vine. The redstart begins to sing : its 

 note is short and imperfect, but is continued till about the 

 middle of June. The willow-wrens (the smaller sort) are horrid 



