ROADSIDE SINGERS 87 



even now, in some districts, are proverbial for 

 good measure. 



In this favoured woodland county I have 

 found the bird under notice to be to a certain 

 extent local, as it is elsewhere. There is a 

 plaintiveness about the bird's song ; it is not 

 jubilant, like that of the merle or mavis. Often 

 have I listened to that voice of the night in 

 the heart of the woodlands, when others were 

 sound asleep. No one, however, can call it 

 a woodland bird very few nightingales can 

 claim that title in its full sense ; but just on the 

 borders, near to man, but not quite close to him, 

 the singer will stay for a time. 



It is a fact, now well known, that the bird is 

 not so numerous in places well suited to it as 

 it was a few years ago. Trapping for dealers 

 has had nothing in the least to do with this ; 

 certain favoured spots and districts have for 

 their very beauty been purchased and built on : 

 setting on one side the natural beauty of the 

 surroundings, the simple fact of the birds sing- 

 ing and nesting there was a guarantee that 

 no sour ground was about. There is a vast 

 amount to be learnt at times by taking heed 

 of so-called trifles. If, in the course of neces- 

 sary alterations, hedge-banks that have soil of 



