I04 A MIDLAND TILLAGE : RAILWAY AND WOODLAND. 



and all its curious local variants, I may refer the reader to 

 Professor Skeat's most valuable etymological contribution to 

 Newton's Edition of Yarrell's Birds;* but why, one may ask, 

 should it be called the French Heckle ? A very old gamekeeper, 

 who described to me by this name a bird which was certainly the 

 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, also used the expression English 

 Heckle for the Wryneck — a bird (he said) much plainer than the 

 French Heckle, and apt to hiss at you if you try to take its 

 eggs. I imagine that French is here contrasted with English 

 to indicate superior brightness and dappemess of plumage. 



Beyond the woods where these birds live, we come out on 

 scrubby fields, often full of thistles, and spotted with furze- 

 bushes. These fields are the special favourites of the Linnets 

 and Goldfinches; the Linnets are in great abundance, the 

 la,tter, since the Wild Birds Act came into operation, by no 

 means uncommon in autumn. The ground now rises towards 

 the hills which form the limit of our western horizon. On 

 these hills may now and then be seen a few birds which we 

 seldom meet with in the lower grounds, such as the Stone-chat, 

 the Brambling, the Wheatear; but as the hills are for the 

 most part cultivated, and abound in woods and brooks, the 

 difference between the bird life of the uplands and the lowlands 

 is not remarkable at any time of the year. 



It may be worth while, however, to note down in outline 

 the chief movements of the birds in our district in the course 

 of a single year. In January, which is usually the coldest 



' Vol. ii. pp. 461-463. Sidcwall seems to be the recognised ortho- 

 graphy ; but I spell the word as it was pronounced. 



