Ill Among the Birds in Wales 53 



Eedstarts, reminding us of those darker cousins 

 of theirs which welcome us to the highest alpine 

 pastures. 



What Englishman would naturally think of our 

 little Eedstart as a bird of the mountains? We 

 associate him in Oxfordshire, where he abounds in 

 ever-increasing numbers, with the thick hedgerow, 

 the pollards by the lazy stream, the old wall in the 

 garden, the chequered shade of the orchard. Yet his 

 tastes seem to be almost as cosmopolitan as those of 

 his continental cousin, — modified, I should perhaps 

 add, with some slight tincture of caprice. It is most 

 strange that in the south-east of England he should 

 be comparatively uncommon. Ten days of constant 

 walking in Kent showed me hardly a single pair, 

 and confirmed all that had been told me by residents 

 in that county and Sussex. Those enthusiasts who, 

 loving the birds more than justice or knowledge, 

 would ascribe the scanty numbers of some species in 

 those counties to the cruelty of mankind, will be 

 utterly unable to convince me of this in the case of 

 the Eedstart. It cannot be truly said that this bird 

 is persecuted anywhere; and if we are to try and 

 explain why it should prefer the west to the east, I 

 should be inclined to guess that the waterless downs 

 and heaths do not suit its needs so well as damp 

 river -valleys and moist mountain sides. The 

 Eedstart loves the pollard willows that line our 



