THE WILDERNESS 199 



stupendous total during its sojourn among us. It is pleasant 

 to see it haunting the old wall near the kitchen garden, where it 

 has nested in previous years, and to realise that, although in the 

 Autumn it tripped away to Africa, it has safely returned to the 

 old-loved spot, so that this pleasant wilderness shall not mourn 

 its loss. 



From the thick shade of a fast-blossoming thorn a Turtle 

 Dove is incessantly uttering its amorous love-song, soothing to 

 the ear, and possessing a rustic simplicity all its own. Presently 

 the bird takes to wing, but we notice how noiseless it is as com- 

 pared with the restless manoeuvres of the clamorous Ring Dove, 

 which, unlike the Turtle Dove, is a resident in the surrounding 

 woods. As the Summer visitor sweeps through an open vista, 

 it displays a prominent fan-shaped tail having white edges, and 

 pleases our sense of sight as the distant voice of a vagrant Cuckoo 

 does our sense of hearing. 



Various species of Titmice simply revel in the wilderness, and 

 the Great Tit is particularly gladsome this May morning, for his 

 high-pitched metallic notes ring out loud and clear. He, at 

 least, is determined to assert himself in the riot of bird song 

 which gives to our present hunting ground one of its greatest 



