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NOTES ON SOME BIRDS FROM NORTH 

 WORCESTERSHIRE. 



By H. E. Howard. 



The following notes were made between the hours of 2.30 

 and 6, in the morning of May 14th, in those extensive woods 

 which once formed part of the Forest of Feckenham. A short 

 account of these woods would perhaps be useful. They are 

 very undulating, the highest point being about 400 ft. The trees 

 are chiefly oaks, and in places where a year or two before the 

 older ones have been cut down the ground is covered with low 

 bushes of hazel and birch, with plants of various kinds; and here 

 Warblers abound. 



It was quite dark when I started on this morning. The first 

 bird to begin singing was a Lark ; this was about twenty minutes 

 to three. They nearly always are the first to start, and, even 

 though quite dark, they are high up in the air. A Redstart was 

 next, followed closely by a Cuckoo. 



It took me about twenty minutes to reach the wood, and by 

 that time it was beginning to get light. The noise of the 

 different birds singing was almost deafening ; there seemed to be 

 a Blackbird, Thrush, or Nightingale in every bush. Going some 

 distance on, I sat down and listened. At first I heard nothing 

 more than Thrushes, Blackbirds, and Nightingales, except a 

 Nightjar, which was some distance in the woods, and a Fox 

 which passed about fifty yards away, filling the wood with his 

 unearthly howling. Now and then a Whitethroat would begin 

 its song, but stop as if it was not quite awake. By 4 o'clock 

 every bird was uttering a note of some sort or other. 



Going farther in among the nut-bushes, I found Garden 

 Warblers plentiful, and Blackcaps, of course, for a more jealous 

 couple it would be impossible to find. The Blackcap is generally 

 the aggressor ; he flies at the Garden Warbler, and then starts to 

 sing, his tail spread out and his wings drooping ; and now is the 



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