vii LETTERS TO MARCO 43 



told they built here formerly, but that for 

 many years they have deserted the place. 

 There are plenty of shrubberies and coppices 

 about of the sort that the bird delights in, and 

 I was at a loss to account for the absence of 

 the famous songster. I am now convinced, 

 however, that it is owing to the increase of 

 the rookeries here and in the immediate 

 neighbourhood. There are two rookeries in 

 Wallingford : one in the castle grounds and 

 another in Mr. Hayllar's garden, which is 

 next to my own. On the Oxfordshire side of 

 the river there are three more large rookeries : 

 at Howbery, Crowmarsh, and Mongewell. 

 It is not the rookeries themselves that drive 

 away the nightingales, but the shooting of 

 the young rooks which goes on during the 

 month of May. The constant banging away 

 that takes place at this time, when the nightin- 

 gales are busy on their nests, would -no doubt 

 be quite sufficient to scare them from the 

 place. I have to walk to Shillingford, about 

 two miles, to hear the exquisite songsters. 



