1891.  
July 4
England.
Wells. - Cloudless without a trace of haze, the sun
warm, the air in the shade delightfully cool; little
wind.
  We came here from Tintern by rail yesterday, a
three hours journey. The intermediate country is
generally level and rather monotonous but very
fertile with a succession of hedge-bordered fields
and many small, quaint towns. Birds were scarcer
than I have found them yet. I saw no Lapwings
and but few Rooks comparatively. A species new
to my list was a small Shrike with very red back
and a distinct black line through the eye, Lanius
minor I suppose. It was sitting on a telegraph
wire and allowed the train to pass without flying,
giving me a good view.
  Last evening I walked around the outside of 
the moat which surrounds the Bishops palace.
no birds singing except two or three Throstles.
Swifts and Jackdaws flying about the Cathedral.
  This morning I went to the market place, a
paved square surrounded by blocks of houses and
stores and filled with a noisy throng of farmers,
for it was market-day. Nevertheless two species 
of Swallows were flying above over the heads of
the crowd and going into and from their
nests at regular intervals.
  There were two nests of the House Martin built
against a vertical stucco wall close up to the flat,
right-angled eaves, the wall forming the back, the eaves
the top of the nest thus: [diagram]. A small hole left
in the rim of the nest served as an entrance. Everywhere