NATURE NEAR LONDON 



mocking-bird, but I strongly doubt the imitation. 

 Nor, indeed, could I ever trace the supposed resem- 

 blance of its song to that of other birds. 



It is a song of a particularly monotonous char- 

 acter. It is distinguishable immediately, and if the 

 bird happens to nest near a house, is often disliked 

 on account of the loud iteration. Perhaps those 

 who first gave it the name of the mocking-bird 

 were not well acquainted with the notes of the 

 birds which they fancied it to mock. To mistake 

 it for the nightingale, some of whose tones it is 

 said to imitate, would be like confounding the clash 

 of cymbals with the soft sound of a flute. 



Linnets come to the furze, and occasionally 

 magpies, but these latter only in winter. Then, 

 too, golden-crested wrens may be seen searching 

 in the furze bushes and creeping round and about 

 the thorns and brambles. There is a roadside pond 

 close to the furze, the delight of horses and cattle 

 driven along the dusty way in summer. Along 

 the shelving sandy shore the wagtails run, both 

 the pied and the yellow, but few birds come here 

 to wash ; for that purpose they prefer a running 

 stream if it be accessible. 



Upon the willow trees which border it, a reed 

 sparrow or black-headed bunting may often be ob- 

 served. One bright March morning, as I came 

 up the road, just as the surface of the pond became 

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