Voices of the Night 



The sedge warbler is a feathered vocalist that can 

 easily be induced to lift up his chattering, scolding 

 voice to the stars at any hour of the night, by throwing 

 a handful of gravel or mould into his native reed bed. 

 Do anything to keep him awake and he is sure to 

 oblige you. Many times in the small chilly hours of the 

 morning have I unwittingly roused this bird into a 

 frenzied protest against my irregular habits, by throw- 

 ing a bucket of water, in which I had washed my 

 photographic plates, with a splash over the stern of 

 some old tub in which I have been living with Nature. 



The cuckoo will not only " tell his name to all the 

 hills around " by day, but sometimes all night long, 

 when it is apt by sheer reiteration to grow somewhat 

 wearisome. 



I have heard the skylark commence its cheering 

 roundelay on the ground long before the stars have 

 ceased to blink during a fine June morning, but have 

 never known this bird, or its silver-tongued relative, the 

 woodlark, to utter a note between midnight and 2 A.M. 

 However, other observers say they have heard both 

 birds sing within the hours mentioned, and I do not 

 think I have ever been guilty of discrediting anything 

 just because it has not happened to come within my 

 own experience. 



It may be asked : " But when do birds that sing by 

 night as well as by day take any rest ? " The answer 

 is by intermittent naps. I have watched a skylark sit 

 down within two or three feet of my hiding-tent, close 

 its eyes, and go sound asleep at noon. 

 B 5 



