62 HILLSIDE, ROCK, AND DALE 



to allow a series to be taken. The green woodpecker 

 always calls more in wet weather, and on this 

 occasion he was remarkably noisy. Another wood- 

 pecker the greater spotted was also heard in the 

 wood, and we saw one flying overhead. Jackdaws 

 were calling all around, and near by we came upon 

 their breeding quarters in a slate cliff. Through the 

 trees and beyond the winding river, another steep, 

 dome-shaped hill loomed high before us, and the 

 falling mist barely hid the reddish tint of the fallen 

 bracken. The roar from the many little waterfalls in 

 the river was unceasingly heard, but above the noise 

 from these I heard a song, uttered low down in the 

 valley that of a robin. The strains were only 

 faintly heard, and it seemed strange to listen to the 

 song of this, one of our commonest birds, in the 

 haunt of the rarest. There seemed to be indeed a 

 wide gap between the two birds, one so common 

 and the other so extremely rare. I could not help 

 thinking of the time when the kite was common in 

 our land, and it made one wonder if, before it is too 

 late, protection will be accorded this fast disappear- 

 ing bird, or whether it will really be allowed to be 

 exterminated as a breeding species. 



The other nest I was able to photograph was in a 

 small larch wood on the side of a high, dome-shaped 

 hill one out of many round about. The larches 

 were surrounded with a few straggling oaks, and 



