74 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



the painted lady may also be observed on a mild day a little later. Overhead, 

 as we walk through the wood, we hear the rooks vociferously cawing and see 

 that they are very busy about their nests, and if we come this way a few weeks 

 later on we shall in all probability hear the young rooks. Up yonder 

 we see a pair of starlings building their nest, and see as we walk along we 

 have started a pretty brown bird with a red tail, we recognise it at once as a 

 redstart {Sylvia phcenicurus.) It is the first we have seen this spring, and is 

 evidently a fresh arrival. The redstarts come generally about the 18th of 

 April and remain all summer. They build loosely constructed nests in holes 

 in trees and lay pale bluish-green eggs. They are very pretty little birds, 

 and their bright orange red tails make them rather conspicuous. There is 

 another species of redstart known as the black redstart (Sylvia litys), it visits 

 the southern coasts of England at the end of autumn, and contrary to the 

 habits of the common redstart, remains all winter and leaves us about the 

 beginning of April. 



Hark at that blackbird loudly singing to his mate ! How clear and 

 delightfully rich are the notes of his song. Well may Graham term him 



" Melodious bird, 

 Who hid behind the milk-white hawthorn spray ; 

 Whose early flowers anticipate the leaf, 

 Welcomes the time of buds, the infant year." 



In all probability the nest is close at hand : in that thick bush most likely 

 out of which the hen bird has just flown. Let us look ! Yes, here it is, 

 composed of small twigs and fibrous roots, plastered inside with mud, and 

 over the mud a lining of fine clay. There are four eggs, green in colour, 

 freckled and spotted with reddish. The hen will doubtless very soon begin 

 to sit, although the readiness with which she deserted the nest when we came 

 near its locality shewed she has not yet begun to do so. 



Here lies a dead shrew mouse, and it is a singular thing but you may often 

 find these dead shrew mice lying about at this time of the year. The common 

 shrew is one of the creatures I should like to know more about than I do. 

 What I know of them is very little. I am familiar enough with their form 

 and colour, but of their habits beyond the fact that they are insectivorous 

 quadrupeds, I know next to nothing. I have never been able to keep them alive 

 in captivity, and they are too shy to observe much in a wild state. The animal 

 itself is common enough, and one may sometimes find its domicile with from 

 five to seven tiny baby shrew mice in a warm bed or nest made of hay. This 

 we generally find in a hole in a hedge bank, or sometimes in the open field. 

 It is a creature well able to burrow, and it often makes somewhat lengthy, 

 although very shallow runs. The dentition of the shrew exhibits a curious 



