OLD HEDGEROWS. 71 



stand on one side if either one of these birds chances 

 to be there. Often have I watched the proceedings, 

 and seen the robin and the hedge-sparrow have it 

 all to themselves, after driving away the others. 

 The robin holds his tail up, cocks his head on one 

 side, and with his bright eyes looks at the hedge- 

 sparrow, standing like a little soldier; the other 

 merely picks at the food, flirts his wings, and shuffles 

 round about, just as it suits him. But these two 

 do not quarrel with each other, for each bird knows 

 well what the other can do. 



Although nesting is going forward in full force, 

 as it is yet early in the season the cock birds sing. 

 They do this where there is little chance of their 

 being observed, for they sing within a short distance 

 of their mates. It makes a vast difference on which 

 side of a hedge you go to look at birds. I need 

 scarcely explain this : my readers can easily judge 

 for themselves why. But it is a fact that one side 

 of a hedge may not appear to be tenanted by birds, 

 when the other side is alive with them ; for hedge- 

 banks composed of generous gravelly loam, well 

 dressed by the natural top-dressing of leaf-mould, 

 are the favourite haunts of birds in their nesting- 



