114 NATURE NEAR LONDON. 



may be heard some distance. This bird is credited 

 with imitating the notes of several others, and has 

 been called the English mocking-bird, but I strongly 

 doubt the imitation. Nor, indeed, could I ever trace 

 the supposed resemblance of its song to that of other 

 birds. 



It is a song of a particularly monotonous character. 

 It is distinguishable immediately, and if the bird 

 happens to nest near a house, is often disliked on 

 account of the loud iteration. Perhaps those who first 

 gave it the name of the mocking-bird were not well 

 acquainted with the notes of the birds which they 

 fancied it to mock. To mistake it for the nightingale, 

 some of whose tones it is said to imitate, would be 

 like confounding the clash of cymbals with the soft 

 sound of a flute. 



Linnets come to the furze, and occasionally magpies, 

 but these latter only in winter. Then, too, golden- 

 crested wrens may be seen searching in the furze 

 bushes, and creeping round and about the thorns and 

 brambles. There is a roadside pond close to the furze, 

 the delight of horses and cattle driven along the dusty 

 way in summer. Along the shelving sandy shore the 

 wagtails run, both the pied and the yellow, but few 

 birds come here to wash ; for that purpose they prefer 

 a running stream if it be accessible. 



Upon the willow trees which border it, a reed 

 sparrow or blackheaded bunting may often be ob- 

 served. One bright March morning, as I came up the 

 road, just as the surface of the pond became visible ii 

 presented a scene of dazzling beauty. At that distance 

 only the tops of the ripples were seen, reflecting the 



