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III 



ROADSIDE SINGERS AND COVERT WARBLERS 



I. ROADSIDE SINGERS 



ABOVE all other migrant songsters ranks the 

 sober-plumaged bird which for so many genera- 

 tions has had a romantic reputation peculiarly 

 his own, the nightingale, or " voice of the 

 night." Merle, mavis, and plain-song cuckoo 

 have all claimed a large amount of notice, but 

 the nightingale is essentially the poet's favourite. 

 There are beautiful legends and traditions, which 



are still believed in by those who live beneath 



s< F 



