WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 223 



Some say in like manner that the starling ventrilo- 

 quizes. He has, indeed, one peculiar long-drawn 

 hollow whistle which goes echoing round the chimney- 

 pots and to and fro among the gables ; but it never 

 deceives you as to his position on the roof unless you 

 are indoors and cannot see him. It is the same with 

 the finches in the trees, when the foliage is thick. 

 Their notes seem to come from this side among the 

 branches, but on peering carefully up there is no bird 

 visible ; then it sounds higher up, and even in the 

 next tree; all the while the finch is but just over- 

 head, and the moment he moves he is seen. Other 

 birds equally deceive the ear : the yellowhammer does 

 sometimes, and the chattering brook-sparrow ; so will 

 the blackbird when singing always provided that 

 they are temporarily invisible. 



When the crake remains a long time in one place, 

 uttering the call continuously, the illusion disappears, 

 and there is no more difficulty in approximately fixing 

 its position than that of any other bird. One summer 

 a crake chose a spot on the " shore " of the ditch of 

 the highway hedge, not forty yards from the orchard 

 ha-ha. There was a thick growth of tall grass, clog- 

 weed, and other plants just there, and some of the 

 bushes pushed out over the sward. The nest was placed 

 close to the ditch (not in it), and the noise the crakes 

 made was something astonishing. "Crake, crake, 

 crake ! " resounded the moment it was light and it 

 is light early at that season : " Crake, crake, crake ! " 

 all the morning ; the sound now and then, if the bird 



