32 BIRD HAUNTS AND NATURE MEMORIES 



milked in the fields; other land is under crops. The 

 grating song of the corncrake resounded from all the 

 fields of long grass, for this bird is an abundant inhabitant 

 of the lower land. A few stunted thorns barely manage 

 to top the wind-swept banks, and brambles grow on the 

 sheltered sides ; here the blackbird nests and on any weed 

 or spray that ventures to rise above the wall the corn 

 bunting perches and jingles. From bank to bank along 

 the shore or up amongst the rocks on the mountain flew 

 with wheezy cries scores of hungry young starlings, 

 bustling on whirring wings after their fussy parents. 

 Titlarks mounted high with jerky notes and dropped 

 again with dying trills, and in a few damp spots the sedge- 

 warbler was singing. 



The vernal squills and hyacinths were nearly over, 

 but great white masses of bladder campion, a few red 

 campions, and an abundance of bird's-foot trefoil flowered 

 on bank and cliff; kidney- vetch was thick in places, and 

 little blue speedwells gave variety of colour. One field, 

 we noticed, was one mass of fumitory, and yellow rattle 

 was everywhere mingled with the flowering grasses. 



Bardsey is practically treeless; save for a sycamore 

 or two and a few stunted ashes there are no trees; but in 

 certain places there is a luxuriant undergrowth, mostly 

 rank weeds, brambles, and elder bushes, where a few 

 warblers and other birds find shelter. When the cottages 

 were pulled down to be replaced by better dwellings, 

 the old sites were walled in and allowed to lie waste; 

 these unused gardens are a paradise for whitethroats 

 and hedge-sparrows and no doubt for blackbirds. Willow 

 wrens, chaffinches, and spotted flycatchers and a pair 

 or two of goldfinches nest on the island, but we did not 

 meet with these ; perhaps by the middle of June they had 

 flown across to the mainland. Round the farms swallows 

 were flying, twittering as they flew, and the familiar chirp 



