296 Wild Life ina Southern County. 
road. Here the stream of vehicles and passengers 
is nearly continuous; and the birch copse abounds. 
with nightingales in the spring. On one fine morning 
I counted eight birds singing at once. The young 
birds seemed afterwards as numerous as the sparrows. 
Never, in the wildest district I have ever visited, have 
I seen so many. They had become so accus- 
tomed to passers-by that they took no notice unless. 
purposely disturbed. Several times I stood under an 
oak bough that projected across the sward by the 
roadside, with a nightingale perched on it overhead 
straining his throat. The bough was some twelve 
feet high, and in full view of everyone. This road was 
constructed about a hundred years ago; and it would 
be interesting to learn if a country lane preceded 
it, well sheltered on both sides by thick hedges. 
Birds are fond of such places, and, having once formed 
the habit of coming there, would continue to do so 
after the highway was laid down. 
It has been stated that the flocks of chaffinches 
which may be seenin winter consist entirely of females. 
Male chaffinches are rarely seen: they have migrated, 
or in some other manner disappeared. Yet so soonas. 
the spring comes on the males make their presence 
known by calling their defiant notes from every elm 
along the road. Last spring [1878] I fell into conversa- 
tion with a fowler. He had acock chaffinch in a cage 
covered with a black cloth, except on one side. The 
cage was placed on the sward beside the road, and 
