THE NIGHTJAR: OR FERN OWL. 133 



Within the past ten years thousands of acres 

 have been thus treated; so that the man who 

 strolls out in the calm of a June evening across 

 the common, now listens in vain for the soothing 

 chur-r-r which used to make him watch for the 

 flap of those mystic wings against the moonlit 

 sky. 



Following fast in the track of the golf links, 

 come asphalte and lamp posts, with the laying 

 out of the old tangled common into summer 

 gardens with band stands, or into recreation 

 grounds for the children yes, for that genera- 

 tion of children who will in ages to come possess 

 automatic nightjars and mechanical nightingales, 

 and who may be happier and longer lived for 

 the changes in their environment. 



Birds too, which are being displaced by the 

 improvement to commons, are the whinchat, and 

 the stonechat both very familiar in one's daily 

 walks about Esher and Wimbledon. The lap- 

 wing also, and the green woodpecker, are being 

 driven further afield since the days when we 

 used to hunt Arbrook Common and the Oxshott 

 Woods for the eggs and nests respectively. 

 Those woods still contain a surprising amount 

 of bird life; abounding with jays, cuckoos, long 

 tailed tits and woodpeckers all the early summer. 



Among the less familiar birds, which I have 

 either seen or found the nests of in this district 

 which is after all only seventeen miles from 

 London are the turtle-dove, kestrel, sparrow 

 hawk, greater spotted woodpecker, red backed 

 shrike, crossbill, golden crested wren, horned 



