MAY 99 



catch a glimpse of the neat red-capped hen for whom 

 his minstrelsy is tuned. This is the typical song, but 

 at other times he improvises, singing quietly to himself 

 in a strain so different that we may fail to recognise its 

 authorship. Many other birds interweave at times 

 unfamiliar variations into their songs. The stonechat 

 and whinchat may be quoted as examples. 



The next arrival is more likely to be identified by 

 its movements than by its voice. The Spotted Fly- 

 catcher is said to have a song, but it is so faint and low 

 that few can claim to have heard it. However, the 

 flycatcher's rapid dash after an insect and return to its 

 perch are so characteristic that an added voice would 

 be superfluous. Various other birds, even the starling, 

 sparrow and chaffinch, attempt this manoeuvre on 

 calm days when insects are flying high, but the fly- 

 catcher is the only one which performs it gracefully and 

 with certainty. 



If, when the hawthorns are white, we chance to 

 catch a glimpse of a very shy bird which, as it goes 

 down the hedge-side, looks something like a large 

 edition of the redstart, we may know the Red-backed 

 Shrike or Butcher Bird, and may look for the nearest 

 blackthorn bush with the expectation of finding a 

 number of insect victims impaled upon its spines. 



On the first warm evening after the month has half 

 run its course, the Nightjar may be looked for, as it 

 skims in the gloaming with noiseless flight round the 



