THROUGH THE YEAR 5 



ness in the midst of the still life of the leafless stems, 

 his bold black and yellow against the neutral shades 

 of the almost colourless coppice these make such 

 a contrast ! 



By the sandy chines that run to the sea the 

 blackbird is more at home and far more plentiful 

 than I ever found him elsewhere. Here, on and off, 

 I have noticed the blackbirds during most of 

 May, and once they have come into full and con- 

 stant song it is quite common to hear three 

 or four within a circuit of fifty yards. They sing 

 and build and forage right down to the edge of the 

 sea, at least to the end of the chine slopes, and are 

 as plentiful as the willow wrens that are dropping 

 in through April and early May. 



The cluster pine is a favourite tree of the black- 

 bird's, and one of his favourite perches is a large 

 grey cone of the pine. There he sits and flutes in 

 his easy, luxurious way. The sea-green foliage of 

 the cluster pine and the grey of its cone serve well 

 to set off his black and yellow. 



With the blackbird, as with all other singing birds, 

 it is not mainly the music that appeals to one ; 

 the quality of that happens to be really good in 

 the blackbird as it is in the blackcap ; but I am 

 quite sure that the value of the song is not wholly 

 on chiefly a sound value. Here as when a sedge 

 warbler, a thrush, a redbreast, or a skylark is 

 singing the environment, the ideas as to the beauty 

 and charm of birds that are in the mind, count much. 

 They count more, no doubt, than the intrinsic worth 



