164 HAMPSHIRE DAYS 



absorbed in the sound for as long as it lasted. At 

 first she ate a few of the crimson berries on her 

 branch, and also took a little parsley and shepherd's 

 purse, but later on she declined all green stuff, and 

 fed on jam, honey, cooked sultanas, and bread-and- 

 butter pudding, which she liked best. Water and 

 ginger-beer for drink. This most placid and digni- 

 fied lady we had got into calling her " Lady Green- 

 sleeves," and " Queen," and sometimes " The Cow " 

 was restored, on September 12, in good health, after 

 sixteen days, to her native heath, and disappeared 

 from sight in the long grass, quietly making her 

 way to some spot where she could settle down com- 

 fortably to listen to the music. 



All the females I found and watched behaved as 

 my captive had done. They were no more active, and 

 preferred to be at a good height above the ground 

 eighteen inches or two feet when quietly listening. 

 One day I watched one perched on the topmost spray 

 of a heath bush in her listening attitude : clouds came 

 over the sun, and the wind grew colder and stronger, 

 and the singers ceased singing. And at last, finding 

 that the silence continued, and doubtless feeling uncom- 

 fortable on that spray where the wind blew on and 

 swayed her about, she slowly climbed down and settled 

 herself in a horizontal position on the sheltered side of 

 the plant; and when the sun broke out and shone on 

 her she tipped over on one side, stretched her hind legs 

 out, and rested motionless in that position, exactly like 



