BIRDS OF WOODLAND AND HEDGEROW. 161 



green cloth, sat down to wait under the shadow 

 of a small bush growing close behind my appa- 

 ratus. 



The bird appeared to be very shy, and con- 

 tented herself with flying uneasily in and out 

 amongst the branches of a giant sycamore that 

 almost overshadowed her nesting-place, all the 

 while uttering her doleful tway, tway, tway note. 

 Casting about for reasons to explain this shy 

 conduct, I discovered one. The bull had loomed 

 so large in my mind, that I had forgotten to 

 reverse my cap and jacket, and was sitting, an 

 island of dead grass brown in a sea of vivid green. 

 Directly a change was made, the wood wren 

 showed her appreciation by alighting in the bush 

 over my head. 



From this moment our acquaintance ripened 

 rapidly, but, unfortunately, the bird did not 

 expedite my departure from the uncongenial spot 

 by giving away many favourable opportunities of 

 figuring her. Instead of alighting on the hazel 

 twig I had under focus when she brought food to 

 her young, she more frequently hovered over the 

 nest like a humming-bird for a second or two, 

 and then dropped straight down to it. 



Although she received no assistance from her 



mate, who was for ever reiterating his cluttering 



song in the tops of the larch trees across the 



brook, she had no difficulty in securing an ample 



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