MAY. 109 



Nightingales "jugging" everywhere, Tree Pipit singing, Song Thrush 

 just started in the Avian chorus, also Chaffinch, Yellow Bunting, 

 and Greater Whitethroat; Cuckoo chiming in, Rooks cawing, Ring 

 Doves cooing, Great Tit mimicking, "cock-up" of Pheasant, Red- 

 breast singing. Ten minutes ends. Written as heard. 



Meadow Barley out. How comes this to be reckoned as a wild 

 flower? Is it not a grass? Listening to the songs of birds nearly 

 all day, I can, as I write, still hear the voices of the members of the 

 woodland choir; it has been a day of universal bird song from the 

 first break of dawn until the last silver and golden streaks of a 

 blazing, fiery sunset disappeared in the west. Raining at night; 

 dark early. 



7th. Rain of last night has made the country-side look beautiful, 

 Dull, and rather cold. No wind. Skylark and Hedge Sparrow 

 singing. Saw Whinchat hovering over some Furze bushes on railway 

 bank. 



Beautiful moonlight night. It may not generally be known that 

 there is another bird besides the Cuckoo which lays its eggs in the 

 nests of other birds. This is the Cow bird (Molobrus benariensis) 

 which belongs to the Sturnidae, or Starling family. It inhabits the 

 United States of America. 



8th. Dull, but good growing weather. No wind. Skylark singing 

 joyously. House Sparrows gathering nesting materials in the garden. 

 Robin and Chaffinch singing; also Willow Warbler, Greater White- 

 throat, and Song Thrush. 



Robin, Song Thrush, Hedge Sparrow, and Blackbird singing at 

 8 p.m. Rooks cawing in the Rookery at the same hour. 



The nest of the Common Wren illustrated on page 105 has a 

 history attached to it. It was built in a bundle of thirteen old 

 horseshoes at Everthorpe Hall, Brough, Yorks. The female bird was 

 found drowned in a pail of water, but the male bird took care of and 

 reared the young ones. 



9th. Raining. Very nice, gentle rain will do much good. Lark, 

 Song Thrush, Chaffinch, and Hedge Sparrow singing, the former in 

 a marked manner, because of the dull day. (See my former remarks 

 hereon). 



10th. Raining. Rather cold. No wind. Groundsel in full flower 

 just now. Lark singing. Icy-cold, moonlight night; not the sort of 

 night to hear the Nightingale, for instance. 



