56 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



of the hawthorn or on a rail, coming up from the corn 

 as if to look around him for he feeds chiefly on the 

 ground and uttering two or three short notes. His 

 plumage gives a life and tint to the hedge, contrast- 

 ing so brightly with the vegetation and with other 

 birds. His song is but a few bars repeated, yet it has a 

 pleasing and soothing effect in the drowsy warmth of 

 summer. Yellowhammers haunt the cornfields princi- 

 pally, though they are not absent from the meadows. 



To this hedge the hill magpie comes : some mag- 

 pies seem to keep almost entirely to the downs, while 

 others range the vale, though there is no apparent 

 difference between them. His peculiar uneven and, 

 so to say, flickering flight marks him at a distance 

 as he jauntily journeys along beside the slope. He 

 visits every fir copse and beech clump on his way, 

 spending some time, too, in and about the hawthorn 

 hedge, which is a favourite spot. Sometimes in the 

 spring, while the corn is yet short and green, if you 

 glance carefully through an opening in the bushes or 

 round the side of the gateway, you may see him busy 

 on the ground. His restless, excitable nature betrays 

 itself in every motion : he walks now to the right a 

 couple of yards, now to the left in a quick zigzag, so 

 working across the field towards you ; then with a 

 long rush he makes a lengthy traverse at the top of 

 his speed, turns, and darts away again at right angles, 

 and presently up goes his tail, and he throws his head 

 down with a jerk of the whole body as if he would 

 thrust his beak deep into the earth. This habit of 



