HOMEWOOD 189 



all the birds of the neighbourhood bestirred themselves, and 

 soon, as I lay there amidst a perfect tfbrrent of bird music, I 

 distinctly heard the notes of twelve different songsters. Most 

 beautiful of all was a melodious Blackcap, of whose great reputa- 

 tion as a songster I had been reading to the Homewood circle 

 the previous evening (see Chapter V.). It was curious, to say 

 the least, that within a few hours I should hear, so close to the 

 open bedroom window, a very fine Blackcap uttering to perfec- 

 tion the song of the Thrush, as well as its own melodious reper- 

 toire, a matter which was discussed with interest over the break- 

 fast table later in the morning. A Lesser Whitethroat was very 

 insistent in its song not many paces away, and I feel confident 

 had a nest in the hawthorn hedge bordering the kitchen garden. 

 In the fields surrounding the pleasaunce, awakened Skylarks 

 rose in rapturous roundelay at the break of dawn, and crested 

 Lapwings screamed with sheer delight. Not far away, earlier 

 in the year, this bird deposited its four pear-shaped eggs in the 

 footprint of one of the plough horses (Fig. 78). 



J\B 



FIG. 78. EGGS OP LAPWING. 



Close to the terrace where I rest this quiet Sabbath morning, 

 sheltered from the strong wind and refreshed by the glorious 

 inbreathing of the sunlit air, a Tree Pipit is heard singing in 

 perfect rhapsody. It nests somewhere among the dense tufts 

 of grasses under the shade of an Oak towering in the foreground, 

 but, so far, its homestead has escaped detection. Its watch- 

 tower is a dead branch of the Oak in front of me, and, from this 

 coign of vantage, the lyrical bird pours forth its sweet lilting song. 

 A Pied Wagtail comes to drink at the water vase near the stone 



