NATURE NEAR LONDON 



woodbine and wild hops, both growing in profusion. 

 A cream-coloured wall of woodbine in flower ex- 

 tends in one spot, in another festoons of hops hang 

 gracefully, and so thick as to hide everything 

 beyond them. There is scarce a stole without its 

 woodbine or hops ; many of the poles, though larger 

 than the arm, are scored with spiral grooves left by 

 the bines. Under these bushes of woodbine the 

 nightingales when they first arrive in spring are 

 fond of searching for food, and dart on a grub 

 with a low satisfied " kurr." 



The place is so favourite a resort with these 

 birds that it might well be called Nightingale 

 Copse. Four or five may be heard singing at 

 once on a warm May morning, and at least two 

 may often be seen as well as heard at the same 

 time. They sometimes sing from the trees, as 

 well as from the bushes ; one was singing one 

 morning on an elm branch which projected over 

 the road, and under which the van drivers jogged 

 indifferently along. Sometimes they sing from 

 the dark foliage of the Scotch firs. 



As the summer wanes they haunt the hawthorn 

 hedge by the roadside, leaving the interior of the 

 copse, and may often be seen on the dry and dusty 

 sward. When chiff-chaff and willow-wren first 

 come, they remain in the tree-tops, but in the 

 summer descend into the lower bushes, and, like 

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