CHANTICLEER 



DURING the month of September I spent 

 several days at a house standing on high ground 

 in one of the pleasantest suburbs of London, com- 

 manding a fine view at the back of the breezy, 

 wooded, and not very far-off Surrey hills; and 

 all round, from every window, front and back, 

 such a mass of greenery met the eye, almost con- 

 cealing the neighbouring houses, that I could 

 easily imagine myself far out in the country. In 

 the garden the omnipresent sparrow, and that 

 always pleasant companion the starling, asso- 

 ciated with the thrush, blackbird, green linnet, 

 chaffinch, redstart, wren, and two species of tits; 

 and, better than all these, not fewer than half a 

 dozen robins warbled their autumn notes from 

 early morning until late in the evening. Domestic 



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