PREFACE 



here the notes of the cuckoo echoed all day long, 

 and the birds often flew over the house. Doves 

 cooed, blackbirds whistled, thrushes sang, jays called, 

 wood-pigeons uttered the old familiar notes in the 

 little copse hard by. Even a heron went over now 

 and then, and in the evening from the window I 

 could hear partridges calling each other to roost. 



Along the roads and lanes the quantity and 

 variety of life in the hedges was really astonishing. 

 Magpies, jays, woodpeckers both green and pied 

 kestrels hovering overhead, sparrow-hawks dart- 

 ing over gateways, hares by the clover, weasels on 

 the mounds, stoats at the edge of the corn. I 

 missed but two birds, the corncrake and the grass- 

 hopper lark, and found these another season. Two 

 squirrels one day ran along the palings and up into 

 a guelder-rose tree in the garden. As for the finches 

 and sparrows, their number was past calculation. 

 There was material for many years' observation, 

 and finding myself so unexpectedly in the midst 

 of these things, I was led to make the following 

 sketches, which were published in The Standard, 

 and are now reprinted by permission. 



The question may be asked : Why have you not 

 indicated in every case the precise locality where 

 you were so pleased ? Why not mention the exact 

 hedge, the particular meadow ? Because no two 

 persons look at the same thing with the same eyes. 



