SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



notes'; arid, behind the ambush of the nearest tree, 

 we have not long to wait before we are enabled to 

 catch a glimpse of the tiny summer visitors which 

 annually perform their marvellous journeys from 

 the south to pass the summer in our sea-girt isle. 



Lower down in the brake, where the tangled briars 

 have caught and held the wind-strewn leaves of the 

 past year, forming a pleasant couch for the outlying 

 rabbit, the liquid notes of the Nightingale are heard, 

 now mournfully prolonged, anon hurriedly brought 

 to a close at our approach, until, as curiosity prompts 

 a closer inspection, the dull-brown bird quits its 

 ambush, and flying low for a few yards is again lost 

 to view amongst the dense underwood. From the 

 top of a larch tree the Thrush pours forth its 

 varied melody, making the woods resound, and the 

 challenge is taken up by a rival in the next planta- 

 tion. The startled Blackbird, as we quit the copse, 

 flies hurriedly down the ditch with noisy vocifera- 

 tion, and pausing for a moment upon a gatepost, 

 with many a flirt of the tail, dashes wildly into cover 

 again and disappears. 



In the hedgerows, as we pass along and mark 

 the budding whitethorn, the restless, garrulous 



