RAMBLE IV. 



ACROSS THE OPEN FIELDS AND DOWNS. 



OUR fourth ramble may be aptly taken across the 

 open fields and downs, the lanes and hedgerows 

 usually adjoining the one and not unfrequently 

 leading to the other. Like all other districts 

 through which we may wander, the fields and the 

 downs are inhabited by certain birds, most of 

 which, if not absolutely peculiar to these places, 

 are their chief characteristic so far as bird life is 

 concerned. At all seasons the Fields are full of 

 interest ; in spring and summer they are the 

 breeding-grounds of many birds ; in autumn and 

 winter the resort of more. Owing to the great 

 diversity of the crops upon them, food and cover 

 are furnished for birds of widely different habits 

 and organisation. For the sake of making our 

 ramble over them as simple and comprehensible 

 as possible, we will first deal with them in spring 

 and summer, first noticing the birds that habitually 

 resort to them for nesting purposes. 



So far as the downs are concerned, one of 



Northern the most characteristic species is the WHEATEAR 



Smmonl? (Scucicola cenanthc) Tennyson's " blue bird of 



March." Unlike many of our poets, England's 



