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tenor notes, sometimes harmoniously mingled with the 

 Blackbird's baritone, in the spring months, salute me, 

 morning and evening, from the tall trees by the 

 neighbouring river. A pair of the latter annually honour 

 the lane by building their nest in the thick hedge. The 

 eggs are four or five in number of a dull blue with brownish 

 spots. 



That very handsome bird the Chaffinch or Spink, with 

 its cheery " tweet, tweet," or "pink, pink," enlivens the 

 lane during the spring and summer. A pair build their 

 nest in the forked branch of a crooked Crab Tree. It is a 

 model of neatness and beauty, and so skilfully placed and 

 made, in its exterior, so like the bark of the tree itself, that 

 even the piercing eyes of a prowling school-boy would have 

 some difficulty in detecting it. It generally contains four 

 or five eggs of a dullish blue, or green, with a slight 

 admixture of red. The nest of the Dunnock, (which, 

 though very compact, is not to be compared in 

 architectural beauty or skilful concealment with that of the 

 Spink) is still lower, in the thick of the hedge ; while that 

 of the Redbreast is cleverly concealed in the grassy bank. 

 The plaintive Yellow-hammer utters his " chit chit churr," 

 during the spring, and no doubt builds somewhere in the 

 vicinity. 



Amongst the occasional visitors to the lane must be 

 mentioned the Blue Tit, with its brilliant plumage ; the 

 Cole Tit ; the Tom Tit ; and the pretty long-tailed Tit 

 the last of which comes in flocks of about a dozen (probably 

 a family), and restlessly flits from tree to tree. The 

 Whitethroats arrive late in the spring, and leave again 

 during the summer. The Redbreast and the Wren appear 



