CHAPTER II 



WILLOW- WREN WOOD-WREN CHIFFCHAFF 

 WOODPECKERS WOOD-PIGEON MAGPIE 

 TAWNY OWL 



WHILE standing under the beech trees in a wood 

 in the month of May one cannot fail being struck 

 with the merry song of the Willow-Wren. This 

 little bird, as it moves from branch to branch 

 searching for insects, singing meanwhile, gives one 

 the impression that it is always in the best of 

 moods. When a number assemble, and one sonsf 



o 



is taken up before another is finished, the concert 

 resembles the chiming of small bells. The song 

 which begins at a high-pitched note, gradually 

 descends in an undulating scale ; sometimes each 

 note is distinctly whistled, at other times the song 

 is hurried over so that several notes are left out. 

 It seems almost as though all depended upon what 



