March 



to be a terribly earnest business, and appeared to 

 have reached that stage when the hen was deter- 

 mined to put the cock's devotion to the final proof 

 of touring the countryside in ceaseless flight with 

 her suitor at her tail. 



Whilst sitting under a hedge in an orchard about 

 this time, I was startled by the outrush of a couple 

 of furious song-thrushes, one pursuing the other 

 until both suddenly settled on the boughs of the 

 same tree at a distance of a few feet from each other. 

 Then both sang wildly together, interjecting excited 

 squeaks and gabblings such as starlings use. It was 

 manifest from the gestures of these birds that their 

 song was prompted by anger. I have known a 

 robin respond by vigorous singing after flitting 

 aside in order to avoid an experimental pass I had 

 made at him with my stick. 



Magpies are now moving in pairs. These birds 

 are always with us in considerable numbers, so that 

 I seldom go out either in winter or summer without 

 seeing or hearing them. They affect more par- 

 ticularly the high beeches and elms which stand 

 either singly or set widely apart in rows in the open 

 fields on each side of the river Mersey. After the 

 leaves had fallen in the autumn, the nests, placed 

 centrally against the trunks and near the tops of the 

 trees, could be counted to the number of a score in 

 a mile walk large domed aggregations of sticks and 

 twigs, showing black against the sky. They vary in 

 size ; for this bird, which pairs for life, continues to 



8? 



