70 LIFE AND SPORT IN HAMPSHIRE 



till a glimpse through the maple leaves showed a 

 bird larger in build than the lesser whitethroat, and 

 then a blackcap came into view. 



He raised his crest blackcap is hardly blackcap 

 till that bonny crest is raised but, reassured by my 

 stillness, laid it flat again in a second, and continued 

 his snatches of song; and then I wondered how, 

 before I caught sight of him, I had not recognised 

 the true blackcap quality of the song. As if to 

 give just a taste of that quality at its best, he there- 

 upon ceased his undersong for a few moments and 

 broke into the wild, sweet whistle that we know so 

 well ; a blackbird had just struck up in a tree across 

 the lane this, perhaps, was the incentive. 



The sudden change from the undersong to a 

 snatch of the loud, full note was one of the most 

 charming incidents that I have noticed in bird life 

 for a long while, and the clear view I had of the 

 singer added much as, indeed, it nearly always 

 does to the pleasure. When the shy bird is 

 screened from view, and we know that it is good 

 to see as well as hear, there may be a sort of 

 rivalry between eye and ear, and the pleasure is 

 imperfect. How good some birds in song are to 

 watch everybody must agree who knows the car- 

 riage and sprightliness of the singing blackcap, 

 blackbird, nightingale, and wren. The first will 

 raise and depress his crest, the second flirt his 

 tail, the third which also has a lively play of a 



