190
Dinant, Belgium.
1897
July 17.
  Clear and sultry with but little wind, the distance ob-
scured by smoky haze. Rambled about the quaint old town in
the forenoon entering many of the shops and making a few pur-
chases. In the afternoon we all drove to the top of the cliff
where we left the carriage near the fort and walked over the
same ground which L. and I visited on the 12th. Another glo-
rious concert of Skylarks, one bird in the air and singing
without the slightest pause or break for fully 12 minutes (L.
timed him 9Œ_ minutes not looking at her watch until he had
been up at least 3 minutes. He rose to a height of fully 1000
ft. Saw a family of Tits, a Redstart, a Magpie, several
Wheatears and a dozen or more --  ? Warblers. Few birds sing-
ing except the Skylarks.
  In the terraced garden this morning I heard a Wren sing
many times near at hand. The song was less liquid and musical
than that of our Winter Wren but the form was essentially the
same. The tone was not unlike that of our Song Sparrow.
  Swallows and Martins very numerous about these cliffs.
All the notes of the Swallow are precisely the same as those
of our Barn Swallow. The Martin appears to have only one call
note which is about intermediate between the chatter of our
Sand Martin and the ghur of our Eave Swallow.
  Here as in England I am struck by the absence of the
tsup and tsip calls so common among our Warblers and Sparrows.