44 HILLSIDE, ROCK, AND DALE 



He sings with such force, and seems to be putting 

 his whole soul into his vocal exercise, and as we 

 listen we hear his song alone ; the birds around are 

 calling, but we heed them not, and until our bird 

 ceases all our attention is riveted on him. 



There is a brightness in these early morning songs 

 which is not heard later in the day. All birds are 

 pouring out their best strains, and be it robin, thrush 

 or blackcap, or the rnerry willow-warblers, with their 

 continual chiming, all seem to vie with one another 

 to excel their near neighbours, and the result is a 

 triumph of song, only heard by those who take the 

 trouble to visit our suburban woods in the early 

 morning. I say suburban woods, because in these 

 places there are more birds. A small wood of a few 

 acres in extent, surrounded with buildings, will be 

 crowded with bird life, and more so than one of the 

 same size far from any dwelling. 



In another spinny of this suburban estate I found 

 the lesser whitethroat breeding. When I discovered 

 the nest it contained two eggs. I waited a few days, 

 hoping the bird would lay the full clutch, but when 

 I went to photograph it there was only one egg. 

 Probably an egg-stealing bird took the rest. There 

 were, I believe, two pairs of carrion crows nesting 

 near, and these robbers were responsible for a number 

 of lost eggs. The moor-hens' and coots' eggs were 

 taken, and in one coot's nest of eight eggs, only one 



