THE BUSHES. 



57 



French-grey spots. Having duly wrapped it in paper and ensconced it 

 behind a bush, we returned with fresh ardour to the scrub ; but, though 

 two perspiring bipeds worked the remaining portions for several hours 

 with all the zeal begotten of success, they saw nothing else worth shooting 

 at, except a pair of Pied Flycatchers which appeared towards evening on 

 some tall horned-poppies near the beach. Two days later I bagged an 

 adult Bluethroat within fifty yards of the same spot, and in the afternoon 

 we thought at one time that we had stumbled on an Aquatic Warbler. 

 However, such portions of it as survived a combined bombardment on the 



DOING THE BUSHES. 



part of two excited guns turned out to be the relics of a Sedge- Warbler, 

 and another disappointment followed when I shot a Wryneck under the 

 impression that it was a Barred Warbler. A Wryneck seems at first 

 sight an unlikely bird to encounter in such a place, but even Green 

 Woodpeckers have sometimes been got there, and we ourselves saw one, not 

 far off, the following year. 



The Bluethroat is the bird in search of which most collectors first 

 visit the bushes, but they do not all secure one. Some years none are 

 seen, and, moreover, the date of their arrival varies much. It requires 

 also a quick eye to distinguish them on the wing, the orange on the 

 tail showing less than one might suppose from looking at the stuffed bird. 



