184 Wild Life in a Soiithern County 



merry song in the branches, nothing but the buzz of flies. 

 The birds are quiet, or nearly so : they slip about so noise- 

 lessly that it iiS difficult to observe them, so that many 

 perhaps migrate before it is suspected, and others stay on 

 when thought to be gone. In the grass the grasshoppers 

 make their hiss, and towards evening the yellowhammers 

 utter a few notes ; but while the corn is being reaped the 

 meadows ara all but still. 



