NATURE NEAR BRIGHTON. 91 



A marked sign of spring in Brighton is the return 

 of the wheatears ; they suddenly appear in the waste 

 places by the houses in the first few days of April. 

 Wheatears often run a considerable distance on the 

 sward very swiftly, usually stopping on some raised 

 spot of the turf. Meadow-pipits are another spring 

 bird here ; any one going up the Dyke Road in early 

 spring will observe a little brown bird singing in the 

 air much like a lark, but more feebly. He only rises 

 to a certain height, and then descends in a slanting 

 direction, singing, to the ground. The meadow-pipit 

 is, apparently, uncertain where he shall come down, 

 wandering and irregular on his course. Many of them 

 finish their song in the gardens of the Convent of 

 the Sacred Heart, which seem to be a refuge to birds. 

 At least, the thrushes sing there sweetly yellow- 

 hammers, too on the high wall. There is another 

 resort of birds, opposite the Convent, on the Stanford 

 Estate, on which persons are warned not to shoot or 

 net small birds. A little shrubbery there in April 

 and May is full of thrushes, blackbirds, and various 

 finches, all happily singing, and busy at their nests. 

 Here the birds sing both sides of the highway, 

 despite the reproach that Brighton is bare of trees; 

 they pass from the shrubbery to and from the Con- 

 vent gardens. 



It is to be wished that these notices not to shoot or 

 net small birds were more frequently seen. Brighton 

 is still a bird-catching centre, and before the new 

 close season commences acres of ground are covered 

 with the nets of the bird-catchers. Pity they could 

 not be confined a little while in the same manner as 



