OLD HEDGEROWS. 67 



would kill even a singing lark. I have only missed 

 one bird, in the full sense of the word, and that 

 is the goldfinch. Sometimes for months together 

 we do not even hear the note of one, let alone 

 seeing the bird. The hawfinch, that at one time 

 was thought rare, is in some districts in the 

 country more frequently seen now than the gold- 

 finch. 



One class of hedgerow birds I never fail to see 

 in their season these are the migrants that frequent 

 the woodland hedges. The first to come is the 

 chiff-chaff; and for some little time after arriving 

 this small migrant is silent, as if the journey had 

 been a little too much for him, and had made 

 him feel serious. But after a few days you hear 

 his "chevy, chef, chef, chif!" The notes of mi- 

 grants vary : when they first arrive they are mostly 

 tired out ; then when they get well rested and well 

 fed they tune up. After the little chiff-chaff comes 

 the willow-wren, and he is followed by the wood- 

 wren. Then the sedge - warbler, and the curious 

 grasshopper-warbler ; the white-throat, lesser white- 

 throat, blackcap, and nightingale complete the list. 

 All these we can find now, breeding in one woodland 



