4-2 THE PETTYCHAP'S NEST. 



don its usual shy and skulking habits, and, like the preceding species, 

 sings near the top of a moderately lofty tree. I have also observed 

 another habit which does not appear to have been noticed by any pre- 

 ceding naturalist, with whose works I am acquainted ; and that is its 

 darting into the air to catch insects in the same manner as the Spotted 

 Flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola), often taking its stand on a dahlia 

 stake, watching for its prey, darting aloft with inconceivable rapid- 

 ity, with its bill upwards, catching the fly with a loud snap of the 

 bill, and immediately returning to its station, again and again to 

 renew the same process with similar success. Often as I have ob- 

 served this interesting manoeuvre, I do not remember a single 

 instance in which it missed its prey. It is very probable, that if the 

 Garden Fauvet * tuned his merry throat ' in the night season, the notes 

 would be considered little inferior to those of the Brake Nightingale, 

 though they do not possess that astonishing variety which is observ- 

 able in the song of the latter. Each of the Brake Nightingale's 

 strains is different from the last, and it is as impossible to conjec- 

 ture what will come next as it is to keep all the notes in one's recol- 

 lection. The melody of the Garden Fauvet, on the other hand, 

 though far from being destitute of variety, cannot boast of the inter- 

 minable changes of the other, and is easily remembered after it has 

 once been heard. Indeed, so remarkable is it for the exquisite 

 sweetness of its expression, that it is not easily forgotten, and cannot 

 fail to strike those who pay the smallest attention to the beauties of 

 nature. 



* In Kent and Surrey,' writes Mr. Blythe, * the term Nettle-creeper 

 is applied, by those who distinguish the different species, to the gar- 

 rulous Fauvet. The Garden Fauvet is termed the " Nightingale's 

 mate," and " Billy White-throat," in contradistinction to " Peggy 

 White-throat." Many suppose that the Garden Fauvet is theBlackcapt 

 Fauvet, and say, in consequence, that the female of that species sings. 

 The sexes of the former may generally^ be distinguished by the more 

 rufous colour of the male under the wing.' 



We will now let John Clare, in his own simple and 

 natural way, describe 



THE PETTYCHAP'S NEST. 



Well ! in my many walks I 've rarely found 

 A place less likely for a bird to form 

 Its nest close by the rut-galled wagon road, 

 And on the almost bare foot-trodden ground, 

 With scarce a clump of grass to keep it warm ! 

 Where not a thistle spreads its spears abroad, 

 Or prickly bush, to shield it from harm's way ; 

 And yet so snugly made that none may spy 

 It out, save peradventure. You and I 



