NATURE'S CAROL SINGERS. 



parts the male is greyish-black, the wings 

 and tail being blackish-brown and the 

 outside feathers of the latter broadly 

 tipped with grey ; chin, throat, breast, 

 and sides chestnut-brown ; under parts 

 white, excepting at the base of the tail, 

 where they are grey. The female is 

 browner on her upper parts and lighter 

 underneath. 



Furze-clad commons along the south 

 coast of England form the home of this 

 rare, shy, and interesting species, which 

 there is every reason to fear is growing 

 still rarer owing to the damage done to 

 it by such severe winters as those of 

 1 88 1 and 1895 and the depredations of 

 egg collectors. 



Although a very difficult bird to 

 observe, and therefore liable to be over- 

 looked, particularly during dull, wet 

 weather, when it does not show itself on 

 the tops of furze bushes, there is every 

 reason to fear that it has quite vanished 

 from many of its old Surrey and Sussex 

 haunts, where I have sought for it day 

 after day in vain. For obvious reasons 

 I cannot divulge the whereabouts of 

 the place where our photograph of the 

 adult male opposite was secured, by 

 the kind assistance of a friend who fed 

 104 



