NIGHTINGALE ROAD 37 



on an elm branch which projected over the road, and 

 under which the van drivers jogged indifferently along. 

 Sometimes they sing from the dark foliage of the Scotch 

 firs. 



As the summer wanes they haunt the hawthorn hedge 

 by the roadside, leaving the interior of the copse, and 

 may often be seen on the dry and dusty sward. When 

 chiffchaff and willow- wren first come they remain in the 

 treetops, but in the summer descend into the lower 

 bushes, and, like the nightingales, come out upon the 

 sward by the wayside. Nightingale Copse is also a great 

 favourite with cuckoos. There are a few oaks in it, and 

 in the meadows in the rear many detached hawthorn 

 bushes, and two or three small groups of trees, chest- 

 nuts, lime, and elm. From the hawthorns to the elms, 

 and from the elms to the oaks, the cuckoos continually 

 circulate, calling as they fly. 



One morning in May, while resting on a rail in the 

 copse, I heard four calling close by, the furthest not a 

 hundred yards distant, and as they continually changed 

 their positions flying round there was always one in 

 sight. They circled round, singing ; the instant one 

 ceased another took it up, a perfect madrigal. In the 

 evening, at eight o'clock, I found them there again, still 

 singing. The same detached groups of trees are much 

 frequented by wood-pigeons, especially towards autumn. 



Rooks prefer to perch on the highest branches, wood- 

 pigeons more in the body of the tree, and when the 

 boughs are bare of leaves a flock of the latter may be 

 recognised in this way as far as the eye can see, and 

 when the difference of colour is rendered imperceptible 

 by distance. The wood-pigeon when perched has a 

 rounded appearance; the rook a longer and sharper 

 outline. 



