Birds, 297 



They are commonly pruned or switched every year, or, if the adjoin- 

 ing field is pastured, the twigs are allowed to grow till the field is 

 again broken up. The land is subjected to a rotation of crops ; 

 permanent pastures we have none, unless in the neighbourhood of the 

 mansions of the aristocracy, or on rocky ground difficult of tillage. 

 Hedge-row trees are not common, though universally admired ; they 

 are a great nuisance, blighting the hedges, lodging the crops in au- 

 tumn, and harbouring the plundering ring-dove. 



About the beginning of the present century many of our hedge-rows 

 were as tall as those still to be found in many parts of England. 

 There the pretty jay screamed harshly in every quarter, the mellow 

 bullfinch piped to his fellows, and the goldfinch flocked in all our 

 borders ; but notwithstanding the mighty changes which have made 

 the district like one vast garden, the thrush, blackbird, hedge-chanter, 

 wren, chaffinch and green linnet, still nestle in our hedge-rows, and 

 the corn and yellow buntings and whitethroats on our ditch-banks, 

 which modern improvement has spared. The sweet-toned willow- 

 wren, and sometimes also the wood-wren, the reed bunting and the 

 chattering sedge-warbler, may here and there be heard in some tall 

 march-hedge, by a slow running stream, or by the horse-pond, or 

 amongst the trees near the farm-house ; and, in suitable localities, the 

 fitful redstart and quiet little flycatcher build their nests in the gar- 

 den ; but, unless in fields bordering upon woods or plantations, the 

 voices of our finer summer warblers are never heard. 



The following notes are the result of five years' daily observation. 

 They are very incomplete, but I trust that time will enable me to sup- 

 ply deficiencies, and perhaps oblige me to contract the latitude of 

 some of my general views of the habits of two or three species, 

 founded on an insufficient number of observations. 



The Chaffinch. The ploughing of our stubble fields is generally 

 finished about the end of December : those which have been sown 

 out with grass seeds may still afford a slight supply of food, but it is 

 then that the great body of chaffinches seek shelter near the home- 

 stead, gleaning their food in the cattle-yards, at the barn-door, on the 

 sides and round about the stacks. Here, as in the fields, they are 

 distinguished for their watchfulness, and well do the little birds know 

 the import of their warning note. The dipper may be heard by the 

 mountain stream the livelong year, and the bold missel thrush may 

 stir the woodlands in sunnj' hours, even in midwinter ; here the robin 

 and the wren are silent during the dead season, and the chaffinch 



