WILD LIFE: FURRED AND FEATHERED. 49 



quick motions, you might mistake its short, compact body 

 for that of a mouse. The insects about the bark supply it 

 with food, but in the autumn it enjoys hazel and beech-nuts. 

 After picking one up among fallen leaves the little bird 

 will carry it to a branch, where it rests it between the 

 grooves of the bark, to hammer at it until the shell splits, 

 and the kernel is laid bare. 



The woodlark is not a very common bird, and it is most 

 frequently found in our southern counties, such as Hamp- 

 shire, Devon, and Dorset, also on the wooded sides of the 

 Thames Valley. The tree pipit is mistaken by many for 

 this bird. Its eggs will be laid by the middle of this 

 month ; they are of white or greenish-white, spotted and 

 sometimes barred with a violet-grey and warm brown. The 

 nest is firmly built of grass and some moss, lined with fine 

 bents, and will be found in a depression of the ground, 

 under some low bush, or now and again just in the smooth, 

 open turf. The bird's song is sweet and liquid in its notes, 

 and it is uttered pretty much throughout the year. You 

 may be fortunate enough to watch the pretty performance 

 of the woodlark, as it ascends from a branch on which it 

 may have perched, singing as it mounts; it hovers in the 

 air, suspended as it seems, and descends again, still singing, 

 in a spiral direction, its wings half closed as though in the 

 very ecstasy of its little song, on to the same branch from 

 which it mounted. 



The little chiff-chaff is the earliest of our spring visitors, 

 and he utters his small song of chiff-cheff-cheef-chif ! 

 chevy-chevy-chevy ! before the leaves are on the trees in 

 sheltered willow holts, though he also frequents the 

 branches of high trees, especially those of tall elms. He 

 resembles his relative the willow wren, but may be distin- 

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