the cathedral towers Swifts circled and chattered, con- 

 testing rights of ownership with the noisy Jackdaws. 



At Tintagel, on the west coast, up on the barren 

 austere cliffs overlooking the "Cornish" seat is a great 

 modern hotel, utterly at variance with that land which 

 is filled with legends of King Arthur, but very com- 

 fortable for a tired tourist. Across a deep chasm, on 

 the jagged rock opposite are ruins, called those of 

 King Arthur's Castle and in the great hall of the 

 hotel is a "Round Table." Just below the hotel is a 

 wild tangle of shrubs and vines and weeds and here 

 was a veritable birds' paradise. Many species were 

 seen there for the first and last time, such as the bril- 

 liant Stonechat in his livery of black and white and 

 red; the Bullfinch, which we know as a cage bird, the 

 little White-throat (not at all like our White-throated 

 Sparrow and of a different family) and other small 

 birds hardly to be found on a traveller's list. It was 

 at Tintagel I heard the first Skylarks in England, as 

 they sprang from the short grass, singing away into 

 space. Chaffinches were there and everywhere ; birds 

 well known to man}^ in America from some domes- 

 ticated here, the Chaffinch being one of the most lov- 

 able of feathered creatures. In coaching between the 

 high hedge-rows of Cornwall and Devonshire, bril- 

 liant in June with a rose-colored valerian blossom. 

 Chaffinches trilled and sang above and around us, 

 walking at times with their quaint mincing step 

 along the road before us — gay little companions. 

 Other companions by the way were the small dull yel- 

 low colored birds called tlie Yellowhammer. Their 

 song is a very simple performance, but rather sweet 



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