124 Railway Birds and Flowers 



birds as if they had been constructed with their 

 special interests in view. Warm, well-drained 

 slopes, covered with tussocky grass and many kinds 

 of flowery herbage, supply exactly the kind of 

 nesting-site which is loved by the ground-building 

 species. The hedge which bounds the railway's 

 territory and the patches of brambles, undergrowth, 

 and young sapling bushes which stud the sides of 

 the embankment, form equally welcome haunts for 

 many kinds of thrushes, warblers, finches, and 

 other birds which nest among low green boughs. 

 The advantages of the spot are complete, if, as 

 often happens, there is a moist ditch or a shallow 

 and gentle rivulet trenched at the foot of the 

 embankment, under shadow of the sheltering hedge. 

 Such a thread of water will add a deeper luxuriance 

 to all the green and tangled cover of summertime 

 upon the slopes, and will foster that abundance 

 of insect life which it is absolutely necessary for 

 many small birds to have within easy reach at the 

 time when they bring up their young. 



Skylarks are particularly fond of nesting on the 

 upper slopes of a grassy and flower-grown embank- 

 ment that faces the south or west. The sitting bird 

 will show absolute unconcern at the trains which 

 rush by within a few feet of her sheltering tussock ; 

 and the newly fledged young can be found in 

 numbers in June, scrambling and squatting on the 

 hot ballast by the very side of the metals, with 

 tails still scarcely half-grown, and their long hind 

 claw as conspicuous by contrast as the ungainly 

 limbs of a young foal. Skylarks' nests are common 



