VI 



IMPRESSIONS OF SOME ENGLISH BIRDS 



HHHE foregoing chapter was written previous to 

 -*- my last visit to England, and when my know- 

 ledge of the British song-birds was mainly from 

 report, and not from personal observation. I had 

 heard the skylark, and briefly the robin, and 

 snatches of a few other bird strains, while in that 

 country in the autumn of 1871; but of the full 

 spring and summer chorus, and the merits of the 

 individual songsters, I knew little except through 

 such writers as White, Broderip, and Barrington. 

 Hence, when I found myself upon British soil once 

 more, and the birds in the height of their May 

 jubilee, I improved my opportunities, and had very 

 soon traced every note home. It is not a long and 

 difficult lesson ; there is not a great variety of birds, 

 and they do not hide in woods and remote corners. 

 You find them nearly all wherever your walk leads 

 you. And how they do sing! how loud and pier- 

 cing their notes are ! Not a little of the pleasure I 

 felt arose from the fact that the birds sang much 

 as I expected them to, much as they ought to have 

 sung according to my previous views of their merits 

 and qualities, when contrasted with our own song- 

 sters. 



