i8o JULY 



the family may be assured. They have discovered even 

 a language of their own to the end of keeping the family 

 undivided. Has anyone heard a more plaintive or a more 

 far-reaching cry than the calling of the scattered coveys 

 across autumnal stubbles ? They call and call, till every 

 living member is found; and the covey may sleep 

 together in the narrow dormitory that they prefer. For 

 myself, I remember no gladder note than once, when I 

 brought back a young family to its home surroundings. 

 They had been collected from the gutter of a road and 

 were taken away for an hour or two. In spite of the 

 interval, the old birds found the brood within a minute 

 of the moment when they were put over the hedge near 

 the point of capture ; and the low cries and chuckles we 

 heard bubbled the very fount of pure delight. 



It is a happy accident for many of us that, like several 

 other birds, notably, perhaps, the linnet, they feel an attrac 

 tion towards human habitations at the breeding time. 

 They become almost a garden bird. It is not uncommon 

 or such is my experience to find a nest in an herbaceous 

 border close against the house ; and they have a pecu 

 liar delight in choosing the boundary between garden and 

 paddock. There they will grow very tame, if dogs and 

 cats and rats allow ; for the birds are not by nature fur 

 tive, like plover or chat or grasshopper warbler, who must 

 creep to the nest through secret tunnel or by zigzag paths. 



6, 



One advantage of sleeping out in the cottage balcony 

 by night and sitting out in it by day is that you could 

 make a continuous study of the pair of swallows nesting 

 in the corner. Their ways are very engaging. When 

 once confidence is established they have little timidity 



