BIEDS AND BIRDS 133 



bird ; but in Britain three or four species of them 

 resort more or less to buildings in winter. Their 

 redstart also builds under the eaves of houses ; their 

 starling in church steeples and in holes in walls; 

 several thrushes resort to sheds to nest ; and jack- 

 daws breed in the crannies of the old architecture, 

 and this in a much milder climate than our own. 



They have in that country no birds that answer 

 to our tiny, lisping wood- warblers, — genus Den- 

 droica, — nor to our vireos, Vireonidce. On the 

 other hand, they have a larger number of field-birds 

 and semi-game-birds. They have several species 

 like our robin ; thrushes like him, and some of them 

 larger, as the ring ouzel, the missel- thrush, the field- 

 fare, the throstle, the redwing. White's thrush, the 

 blackbird, — these, besides several species in size 

 and habits more like our wood thrush. 



Several species of European birds sing at night 

 besides the true nightingale, — not fitfully and as if 

 in their dreams, as do a few of our birds, but con- 

 tinuously. They make a business of it. The sedge- 

 bird ceases at times as if from very weariness; but 

 wake the bird up, says White, by throwing a stick 

 or stone into the bushes, and away it goes again in 

 full song. We have but one real nocturnal songster, 

 and that is the mockingbird. One can see how this 

 habit might increase among the birds of a long-set- 

 tled country like England. With sounds and voices 

 about them, why should they be silent, too? The 

 danger of betraying themselves to their natural ene- 

 mies would be less than in our woods. 



