SYLVIAB.E. 
82 
tant, and with so short a space of time intervening between 
its cessation and recommencement that it was not possible 
for the little singer to have changed its place. We have no 
doubt, from our knowledge of the habits of the bird, that 
the seeming change of place was delusive, and that the little 
creature had remained in the same spot during our whole 
search. It is, therefore, only by accident that it can be seen, 
the most patient pursuit being generally fruitless. This species 
is also known to remain so close in its covert that it is very 
difficult to start it. 
It may be observed, that we frequently describe with 
minuteness the local features of a spot in which we have 
found any rare bird, because it may serve as an example of the 
sort of country in which such birds delight, and in which they 
are most usually found. These local descriptions of the coun¬ 
try, therefore, and the sight or capture of individual specimens, 
we insert, not for the perusal of persons to whom natural 
history is an accustomed study, but for the use and encou¬ 
ragement of those who, being unacquainted with the pursuit, 
desire to know the easiest means of acquiring the power of 
making their own observations ; since ornithology, one of the 
most interesting of country pursuits, would, we believe, be 
more extensively studied, we mean in the great book of 
nature, if the means of pursuing it with success were more 
generally understood. To this end it is necessary to know' 
in what kind of situations certain birds are to be found, 
since few, comparatively speaking, are found without being 
sought for. This knowledge is the more especially neces¬ 
sary in the pursuit of local birds, of wdiich this is one in an 
eminent degree, because they may be sought for with a 
probability of success in one limited district, limited by 
its peculiar natural features, and toiled after in all the sur¬ 
rounding neighbourhood, wdiich may happen to be destitute 
of those peculiarities, with equal certainty of failure. 
