50 IN A CHESHIRE GARDEN 



the young birds were taken, but in 1898 they 

 were again able to escape the attentions of 

 cats and boys and bring off their brood 

 without mishap; in 1899 they wisely aban- 

 doned the dangerous situation altogether. 



I was once watching a flycatcher perched 

 on the food-stand opposite and close to my 

 open window, w r hen I noticed that besides a 

 constantly-repeated weak single note, it had 

 every now and then a cadence of two and 

 again of three notes, and sometimes a very 

 faint kind of inward warble. 



The iron boundary hurdles on the south 

 side of the garden are a favourite stand for 

 flycatchers, and I have seen them busily 

 occupied there in catching flies, which they 

 carried to their young ones in the trees near 

 by, whilst every now and then the prettily- 

 marked youngsters would themselves come 

 down to the top rail and sit there to be fed. 

 Croquet hoops on the grass near these hurdles 

 seem to have a great attraction for them. 

 Two, sometimes three, would be there at the 

 same time. After each pursuit of a passing 

 fly they would return now to the same hoop, 

 now to another, and sometimes they seemed 

 to go the round of all the hoops in turn. 

 Every day throughout the summer they 

 would be there, and in the white line under 

 each hoop was left indisputable evidence of 

 their regular occupation. 



Towards the end of July, 1902, we were 



