Birds by Land and Sea 



throng of martins and swallows. In spite of con- 

 tinuous molestation, the cuckoo flew and scrambled 

 in the manner described along some thirty yards of 

 hedgerow, and then, as I thought, disappeared into 

 the hedge itself. After waiting a short while, I went 

 along the hedge, and saw the bird leave from the 

 back as I came along the front. It seemed that I 

 had come upon a cuckoo in straits to get rid of a 

 late egg when nesting had all but finished ; but 

 although I searched carefully, I found only one nest, 

 and that contained a fledged brood of greenfinches. 

 From the persistent manner in which the cuckoo 

 canvassed the hedge in spite of so much opposition, 

 I have little doubt that, in spite of the lateness of 

 the season, she was in search of a nest in which to 

 deposit an eggT) 



It soon became evident that I had returned to a 

 state of things very different from that I had left at 

 the end of May. Then all was song, and their own 

 domestic content was sufficient for each pair living 

 in happy detachment from their kind. But now 

 song had largely given place to the more prosaic 

 occupation of providing for the young, and the 

 latter were to be found on every tree and hedge- 

 row. 



It was a thriving time, but one over which a 

 shadow was creeping, as a great cloud spreads itself 

 out upon the sky, hushing all song beneath it. The 

 time of the moult was at hand ; and as the days 

 passed, one familiar voice after another fell silent, 



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