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diff --git a/40249-8.txt b/40249-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 07add21..0000000 --- a/40249-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3465 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's In a Cheshire Garden, by Geoffrey Egerton-Warburton - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: In a Cheshire Garden - Natural History Notes - -Author: Geoffrey Egerton-Warburton - -Release Date: July 16, 2012 [EBook #40249] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN A CHESHIRE GARDEN *** - - - - -Produced by sp1nd, Diane Monico, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - - -In a Cheshire Garden - - -[Illustration: The Flower Garden.] - - - - -In a Cheshire Garden - -Natural History Notes - -BY - -GEOFFREY EGERTON-WARBURTON, - -_Rector of Warburton_. - - -LONDON - -SHERRATT AND HUGHES - -Manchester: 34 Cross Street - -1912 - - -ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -These Notes appeared from April to June this year in _The Warrington -Guardian_ and afterwards came out in a de-localised form in _The -Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel_. - -I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. P. Ramsdale, of Heatley, for the -photographs of The Old Church, The Yew-tree, and The Flower Garden (as -it was some years ago). - -My thanks are due also to Mr. Garrett for kindly allowing me to use his -very interesting photograph of The Two Nests referred to on page 94. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -CHAP. PAGE - - I. Introductory 1 - - II. Weeds and Alien Plants 5 - - III. Birds--Thrushes 11 - - IV. Chats, Robins, and Warblers 26 - - V. Tits and Wrens 37 - - VI. Wagtails, Flycatchers, Swallows, and other Insect-eaters 46 - - VII. Sparrows and other Finches 57 - -VIII. Finches, Starlings, and Crows 67 - - IX. Other Birds 77 - - X. British Mammals 95 - - XI. Dogs and Cats 103 - - Index 113 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - -Flower Garden _Frontispiece_ - - FACE - PAGE -Old Church 6 - -The Old Yew 23 - -The Sundial 38 - -A Corner in the Garden with Allium Dioscorides 55 - -Two Nests 70 - -The Food-stand 87 - - - - -I. - -INTRODUCTORY. - - -Although much of the neighbourhood has become semi-urban and any idea -of rural seclusion is destroyed, at least in summer, by the crowds that -find their way to it from Manchester and other large towns, yet the -Cheshire village of Warburton in which this garden is situated is a -real country place still. How long it will remain so is another thing. -One salt works has been set up at Heatley about a mile away and we are -now (1912) promised another, while there is every prospect of land -being let for works in Warburton itself. Who knows, in a few years -perhaps the whole place may be reduced to the desolation of another -Widnes. Then, when it has become a rare thing to find even a blade of -grass on the dreary black waste or to see any bird but a grimy sparrow, -a record of what was once here may be strange reading. - -The garden itself about which I write is quite on the northern boundary -of Cheshire, in old days divided from Lancashire by the Mersey only. -The soil is light and sandy, not far from the rock in places and in -places with water at a very little depth below the surface. It is well -suited to hollies and rhododendrons, both of which grow abundantly and -luxuriantly, as also do yews. There are a good number of ordinary -deciduous trees, chiefly on the old bank of the river, such as oak, -sycamore, chestnut, birch, beech, and alder, but no conifers of any age -except one or two Scotch firs. There is one flourishing deadara which I -planted myself and a few young Austrian pines that seem to be doing -well. - -A spruce fir that I once planted behaved in an extraordinary way; -instead of growing straight, it shot up in a zigzag fashion, the -leading shoot one year going off at an angle of 60 degrees or so, and -the next year harking back and starting in the opposite direction at -about the same angle. - -Few of the trees can be more than 80 years old. I think most of them -would have been planted by my father, who was rector from 1833 to 1849. -There is however a remarkable old yew in the adjoining churchyard. The -half of it, just below where the branches spring, measures nearly nine -feet round. The other half has entirely gone, so has practically the -whole of the substance, the wood of the trunk, and what is left of the -still standing side is little more than a shell with a coating of bark. -Notwithstanding this there is quite a fair-sized head of leafy young -branches (which by the way has greatly increased since I first remember -the tree 40 years ago) growing up amidst the ruins of the old -far-reaching boughs. These yet remain to tell something of the wide -and grateful shade they once afforded to our "rude forefathers" as on -summer Sundays they waited for service to begin, just as I remember the -last generation gathered and gossipped under younger yews when this was -the Parish Church. This yew is the "thousand-year-old tree" of the -clerk's tale to visitors, and if one thinks how many years of slow -growth it must have taken to form a trunk of that thickness, say 18 -feet in circumference, and how many more for it to have decayed away to -its present condition, it does indeed carry us back to an early date in -English history when the little green shoot that sprang from the -crimson-coated seed first saw the light. - -One great drawback from a gardener's point of view is the prevalence of -strong, cold, N.-W. winds in spring. The winters are not so severe as -they often are further south, but the late spring frosts are sometimes -disastrous. We have had potatoes cut down by frost as late as June -21st, but the worst spring frost I have known was in May, 1894, just -about the time that Queen Victoria came to Manchester to open the Ship -Canal. On three consecutive nights, May 19, 20 and 21, there was frost, -and its intensity seemed to increase each night. Not only were potatoes -cut, but garden peas and many hardy herbaceous plants and even common -weeds. (I noticed that those with a northern aspect suffered least.) -The shoots and buds of roses were scorched, and the young leaves of -most trees and shrubs. Hollies suffered especially, but even yew and -rhododendron, oak, sycamore, and chestnut did not escape. The only tree -that weathered the cold with impunity was the hawthorn, the tenderest -leaves and tips of which were not injured. (This was not the case -though in the severe frost of Easter 1903.) Royal, male, and lady ferns -were shrivelled up to a greater or less degree, but parsley and oak -fern were unharmed. - -We miss one gardener's friend here, but we escape the attentions of one -enemy. Though frogs are common enough, toads are very rare. I remember -to have seen only one during all the many years I have known the -garden. On the other hand, whilst I have a dim recollection of having -once found an old snail-shell, I cannot say for certain that I have -ever seen a snail, though of shell-less slugs in all sizes there is no -scarcity. - - - - -II. - -WEEDS AND ALIEN PLANTS. - - -A slight knowledge of botany adds greatly to the interest of a garden, -and is besides often of practical value. With such knowledge, one forms -a habit of looking even at weeds with some interest, and this has led -to my finding several strange plants among them. I have for example -come across the following in the kitchen garden: - -"Saponaria vaccaria," with its curious angled calyx and pretty pink -flower. - -"Galium tricorne," very much like common goose-grass or cleavers, but -rare in England, and quite unknown in this neighbourhood. - -Annual mercury (closely allied to the common perennial Dog's mercury), -green and dull-looking, only of interest because it is rare. - -"Holosteum umbellatum," which again is rare and not much more -attractive to the casual observer. - -"Draba muralis," allied to "Shepherd's purse," and not unlike it, but -as rare as that is common. - -"Melilotus officinalis," a graceful yellow pea-flower. When this first -appeared it was quite a stranger in these parts, but afterwards for -several years it was continually turning up in different corners of -the garden, indeed even in 1911, twenty-six years since its first -visit, I found a stray specimen. - -"Ranunculus arvensis," a weak-looking buttercup with curious rough seed -vessels. - -"Scandix Pecten-Veneris," an ordinary unattractive umbelliferous plant, -but with extraordinary long beaks to the fruit, which are supposed to -be like the teeth of a comb. Both of these are I believe common in -other parts of the country, but they are unusual here. - -"Poa nemoralis," a stranger grass of elegant growth, came one year in -the rougher part of a rock-border. It was made welcome and kindly -treated, but though allowed to follow its own devices and though -several seedlings sprang up round it, they were all gone in a year or -two. A rarer grass still, "Setaria glauca," once turned up in a -cucumber frame. - -In 1907, a seedling fig came up close to the wall of the house. It has -now (1912) several shoots about eight feet long. The same year another -seedling fig appeared in the kitchen garden, and that too I have -transplanted to a warm corner of the house-wall, where it has made a -nice bush. - -For several years we have found seedling tomatoes growing in the -kitchen garden, and in 1911 we gathered seven pounds of green tomatoes -from two plants to make into jam. - -[Illustration: Old Church.] - -When first I came here, and for a long time afterwards, "Erysimum -cheiranthoides" was always among the kitchen garden weeds, and one year -I found growing in a bed of onions its near relative "Erysimum -orientale," which is quite a rare British plant. - -Greater celandine, a rather handsome perennial with somewhat glaucous -leaves and bright yellow flowers, used to be an abundant weed on the -banks and among the bushes, and is still (1911) to be found in the -garden, though in diminished quantity. - -In 1889, a strange plant appeared which puzzled me a good deal at -first. It was tall and straggling, but had no flowers. Next spring -there were several of the same plants, very much branched with -something of the habit of a mugwort, and long spikes of flowers at the -end of every branch. I discovered it to be a species of "Ambrosia," a -native of North America, but I soon discovered also that it increased -by underground runners in every direction, and was only too thankful to -get rid of it. - -Two years before, I had found another visitor, this time from South -America, with bright yellow flowers, evidently allied to forget-me-not, -which proved to be an "Amsinckia" (intermedia ?). There were about 20 -plants of this annual in one border and several others in other parts -of the garden. With some consideration, but with no particular care on -my part, it has maintained itself in more or less quantity in the same -herbaceous border ever since. - -In 1897, a single plant of an "Allium" appeared and grew to a height of -more than five feet, straight up with very stout stems, one and a half -inches in circumference, and handsome heads of reddish-green -bell-shaped flowers on drooping stalks, which afterwards, in fruit, -became quite straight and upright. I found it to be "Allium -Dioscorides," a native of Sicily and Sardinia. There were many tubers -at the root when I took it up, but none of them ever grew so tall and -fine as the original. - -One or two plants that I have introduced myself have proved very -tiresome weeds. In 1875 or thereabouts, I brought back from the wild -part of a large garden in the neighbourhood a balsam with rather a -conspicuous yellow flower ("Impatiens noli-me-tangere," I think). It -made itself at home at once, but as it would keep within no bounds, I -have done all I could "to get without it," as they would say here, but -it defies me to my face and in spite of relentless persecution, again -and again every spring it comes up smiling in an abundant crop. - -So indeed does a tall polygonum ("P. cuspidatum" I believe it is) that -I brought back from the same garden about the same time. It absolutely -refuses to budge from the place where I first allowed it to grow. It -does not perpetuate itself by seed like the balsam, but from little -odds and ends of rootlets and suckers that hide themselves in the soil. - -What I take to be a variety of "Oxalis corniculata," a very pretty -little thing with dark reddish-brown leaves and deep yellow flowers, is -another uncontrollable subject. It is perennial and yet increases by -seed as fast as a balsam. - -A plant which on the top of a stone wall is very pretty, "Linaria -vulgaris," has proved a veritable plague to me in the garden. I had it -sent to me originally by a nurseryman for the "Peloria" variety, and as -if the disappointment of that were not enough, it added insult to -injury, or rather injury to insult, by running below the surface in a -provoking and persevering manner and showing itself in most unexpected -places. Although the normal "vulgaris" is so irrepressible, I have -found "Peloria" quite the reverse, and have never been able to keep it -above a year or two. - -The double-flowered varieties of most plants are, as a rule, more -difficult than the ordinary single, but a little potentilla ("reptans" -?) with a yellow ball of double flower has proved an exception here. No -single-flowered plant could get over and under the ground faster than -this has done. - -In 1886, in an out-of-the-way path among trees, an orchid, "Epipactis -latifolia," came up in the very middle. I took care that it was not -disturbed, and found it again in exactly the same place four years -later, no sign of it having been seen in the interval. Never before, or -since, have I found a plant of that or any other orchis growing wild in -the garden. - -One year (1887) in a border nearly full of rhododendrons, close to the -front door, a curious looking thing made its way above the ground, -which, at first sight might have been put down as something between a -hyacinth and a lily-of-the-valley, but was said to be "Muscari -comosum." I had never planted it and during the fifteen years that I -had been here had never seen anything like it. I very carefully marked -the spot when it died down, but from that time to this (1911) during -all the 24 years that have passed it has never shown itself again. - - - - -III. - -BIRDS--THRUSHES. - - -You can feel something like affection even for a plant, when you have -watched over it and attended to its likes and dislikes as to aspect, -soil, moisture, shade and so on, and when it has responded to your care -and rewarded you for the pains you have spent upon it, but birds become -personal friends, it is an interest and amusement to study their -characters and habits, and a delight to listen to their voices. And -this friendship is not for any one particular bird (though of course -there may be that sometimes), but for the particular species of bird, -any one of which that you happen to meet with anywhere seems like an -old friend. A lively impudent tom-tit for instance is the same amusing -companion and it is the same pleasure to hear his cheery note, whether -you find him in a suburban garden or in some shady corner of a wood. - -Of course it is a day to be marked with a white stone when you come -across a new or a rare bird, but if you watch the commonest -sympathetically and intelligently you have an endless fund of interest -and amusement. The quarrels, the loves, the boldness and ingenuity even -of a sparrow may divert your mind pleasantly and help you to put away -worries. Then how eagerly in spring does one listen for the first note -of a willow-warbler, what an interest is the first sight of a swallow, -and how gladly one welcomes each of our summer visitors as in turn they -arrive from passing the winter in the Sahara oases or among our friends -in the Transvaal or Cape Colony. - -In a country unexplored or newly settled it may not be the same, but in -England there is no need to spoil the charm of friendship by use of the -collector's gun. All British birds have been so well illustrated and -described that it ought to be possible to tell most of them by careful -observation without actually having them in one's hand. In the -interests of science, to make sure of the discovery of a new species or -the distribution of a known one, birds must sometimes be shot (and -after all to be shot is a less cruel end than to fall a prey to their -natural enemies), but to shoot a well-known bird simply for the sake of -its skin is another matter. A man who shoots every rare bird he sees, -that he may add it to his private collection, is sacrificing bird-life -for his own selfish pleasure and disregarding the sentiments and -interests of the great body of nature-lovers and students. The true -naturalist does not collect specimens as he would postage stamps; to -study the life of a wren in its natural surroundings is more to him -than anything he can do with the dried skin of a golden eagle. - -They say that there is in Switzerland a law which forbids the shooting -of any bird without a licence. If some such law could be enforced here, -rare birds that seek hospitality among us would no longer be at the -mercy of every idle lout who happens to have a gun. And is it -impossible that children might be taught to find pleasure in watching, -and not, as seems generally the case now, in destroying life? - -We often have a pair of missel-thrushes ("shercocks" in Cheshire) -nesting here. Generally they build in a tree at some distance away, -where they make their presence known by noisy attacks on other birds; -but once they had their nest in a Scotch fir close to the house, and -then they were so quiet as almost to escape notice altogether. - -There were two nests in the old churchyard this year (1912). One in a -Spanish Chestnut was about thirty feet from the ground, in the middle -of a clump of little shoots that grew straight up on the top side of a -thick branch. This branch overhangs a patch of grass running close to -the boundary wall and on this green boys were playing football with -much shouting and noise every evening. The nest stood out plainly to be -seen, and for a week before they flew (which they did on April 20th) -you could easily count all four young ones. The other nest was in a -yew, under which there is a seat in summer, and was simply set on the -top of one of the lowest spreading boughs without any attempt at -concealment. It was at the end of the bough and not six feet from the -ground, within easy reach of anyone. It could, however, only be seen -when you were actually under the tree and probably would never have -been noticed at all but for the behaviour of the birds themselves. -After the eggs were hatched they attacked everybody who went under or -even near the tree, swooping down suddenly from you didn't know where -and almost dashing into your face, indeed they would often hit your -hat. I am glad to say this display of courage was not wasted, for the -young birds safely flew on May 17th. - -Missel-thrush is said to be short for mistletoe-thrush, and to mark the -singular taste of the bird for mistletoe berries. Mistletoe is scarce -with us, but they do appear to depend more upon berries of every kind -than either throstles or blackbirds, and one year I remember when the -yews bore an extraordinary crop of berries, the trees were quite alive -with the missel-thrushes that came to eat them. I would say, by the -way, that a great part of the holly berries are sometimes left -untouched by birds, and I have seen trees in summer quite red with the -berries of the previous year. - -One or two missel-thrushes generally come to the food-stand in winter -and show themselves expert in getting fat from the supposed -sparrow-proof receptacles. - -Though missel-thrushes are common their song is not familiar. It has -been described as much better than a throstle's; I do not know if that -is the general opinion. It certainly is simpler without the same -repetition, and it has seemed to me more mellow, more like a -blackbird's when I have heard it, but that is not often. Throstles will -sometimes sing continuously all the winter through, and early in the -year I have listened most carefully to catch the notes of their bigger -brothers, but only very seldom with success. They have, however, an -autumn song which I first noticed at the end of September a good many -years ago. I became aware one day of a bird's song that seemed to be -sometimes the note of a blackbird, sometimes of a throstle. After -listening for several days I came to the conclusion that it must have -been one of the many starlings that were singing everywhere, one that -had learnt more or less successfully to imitate a throstle. However, I -never could make sure, for I never could catch sight of the singer, he -would hide himself in a holly or a yew, and would at once stop singing -if I went near. At last, one day I heard him at the top of a sycamore -which was nearly bare of leaves, and managed to bring a glass to bear -on him; even then his body was hidden by a bough and his head was all -that I could see, but the head was plainly that of a thrush. While I -watched I could distinctly see him turn his eye down on me, and he was -off in an instant; but though I only got a glimpse as he flew away, -there was no mistaking the flight of a missel-thrush. It seemed curious -to me at the time that he should be singing at all then, and that he -should be so shy about it. - -Song-thrushes, or throstles as they are called in Cheshire, are always -plentiful, but not always to the same extent. They were, for instance, -very much thinned in numbers by the hard winter of 1895, but in a -couple of years they abounded again, and I heard people complain of -their night's rest being spoilt, there were so many and they sang so -early and so loud. From April to June they sing almost incessantly, -from earliest light until quite dark. They begin at three in the -morning, or even earlier, and sing their loudest for about an hour; -then there seems somewhat of a lull, but they soon start again in full -chorus, and go on singing more or less throughout the day, sometimes -until past nine at night. In 1905, on the longest day of the year, I -woke at 2-30 a.m. to hear a throstle in full song just outside my -window, and at 9-30 p.m. a throstle, almost certainly the same bird, -was singing in the same place. I have often wondered how, with so much -time devoted to musical exercises, they manage to find enough for the -more important business of feeding themselves and their hungry broods. - -A blackbird's song is, I think, always a love song, but mere exuberance -of spirits will make a throstle sing. I have seen one sing snatches of -his song whilst hunting for worms on the grass, as though he were too -full of joyousness to contain himself, and a couple of them will sing -at one another during intervals of quarrelling on the ground. There -seems at all times more rivalry and contention between throstles -throughout the whole season, and less of the spirit of _camaraderie_ -that one so often sees with blackbirds, at least when once they have -settled the momentous question of pairing. - -Within the bounds of general similarity much variety can be heard in -the songs of throstles; no two seem to be exactly alike, and some birds -are far better singers, have a much clearer, more musical note than -others. - -In 1907, and again in 1909, I noticed that throstles were in full song -everywhere on July 15th, just as though it had been the middle of May. - -A particular throstle will choose his favourite spot to sing from, and -will keep to it more or less throughout the season. The point of a -gable of the house is one such place (it is a Cheshire belief that a -throstle brings you good luck when he chooses your house to sing -from), the top of the highest chimney has been another, and the -weathercock on the outbuildings has been chosen year after year by a -throstle as his own peculiar stand. This last is a favourite platform -for the musical performances of other birds as well; a robin constantly -uses it, and a swallow, and more than once I have seen a little wren -there singing away with all his might, a might altogether out of -proportion to his tiny body. - -Whilst most throstles seem to like as high a perch as possible to sing -from, I remember one that habitually poured forth the flood of his -melody raised above the level of the ground by a clod of earth only. - -One morning (in March, 1897) I heard a throstle uttering a peculiar -shrill kind of cry, not a long-drawn-out note such as I have twice -heard from a blackbird, but a succession rather of short notes. At -first I couldn't make out what or where the noise was, but traced it -after a time to the thrush, who continually uttered the cry as he was -hunting for worms on the grass. - -A standing marvel is the way in which a thrush can tell that there is a -worm below the ground at a particular place. As he goes hopping about -in a promiscuous sort of way, he suddenly stops with his head on one -side looking and listening for a second, then he pounces on the exact -spot and forthwith pulls out a worm. Sometimes he makes a mistake, or, -at all events, fails to make a catch, but not often. How does he do it? -Does his quick sight detect some slight movement, or his quick ear some -slight sound? Or has he any other sense of smell or sensation that -helps him? Another marvel about the matter to anyone who has himself -tried to pull a worm out of the ground is the ease with which a thrush -manages so neatly and quickly to extract its victim entire. - -I have found a throstle's nest in the side of a haystack, and was told -of one in a pigstye and of another inside the porch of a house. In 1901 -a throstle built in the roof of the lychgate of the churchyard close to -this garden. Although the first nest was taken she made another in the -same place and had very nearly hatched her eggs when again the -thoughtless cruelty of boys made all her labour vain and abused the -confidence she had so bravely shown in men. She used to sit on quite -calmly, though only just above the heads of people as they went through -the gate. - -Generally speaking, throstles are so tame here that they hardly move -out of your way, at most hopping a foot or two further off; and one -will go on with his song undisturbed as I pass through an archway of -pink thorn on which he is perched not two feet above. They are -naturally, I think, more friendly in their disposition towards human -beings than blackbirds, which go clattering off whenever they see you -near them. - -In May, 1902, there must have been at least 20 throstles' nests in the -garden itself. There were five, all in holly bushes, within 30 yards, -by the side of one path, two in one tree, both of which had young ones -in them at the same time. One bird had a nest just over the entrance to -the house porch, through which we were in and out the whole day long, -and we saw nothing of it until the young were hatched. Another chose an -extraordinarily exposed situation, in a rhododendron just opposite the -front door, from which we could see her quite plainly as she sat. The -nest was actually not more than a foot or so from a little narrow path. -We were constantly up and down this path and could hardly avoid -brushing the leaves at the end of the very bough on which the nest was -built, yet I never once saw her fly off. She used to keep her eye on -us, but did not move even if we stood still only a few feet away and -looked at her. This nest was under continual observation from the -laying of the first egg to the flight of the last nestling, which -remained for the best part of a day after the rest had flown. - -On the other hand, in strange contrast to this confidence, there were -three nests farther away from the house (one indeed absurdly close to a -gate in constant use), from which the birds flew off with a loud, -startled cry if one waited for a moment near them. In one of these -three nests the brood was reared, but of the other two one was deserted -and one taken. - -In 1899 a friend in the village assured me that there had been a -throstle's nest with eight eggs in it close to her house. As only four -of them, she said, hatched, perhaps the first hen was killed after she -had laid her complement of eggs, and the cock brought home another mate -to his ready-made nest. - -I find a note that once I saw throstles join with starlings in their -raid upon elder-berries, but I have seen nothing since to confirm this. - -Until the winter of 1910-11 I very seldom found a throstle attempt to -get the fat put out for tits; they generally content themselves with -the crumbs that have fallen on the ground underneath. If the weather is -at all severe they will come with sparrows to the fowls' food, but in a -sharp, continuous frost they disappear almost entirely. (Blackbirds and -some missel-thrushes remain.) This was very marked in February, 1902. -Before the severe cold began throstles were plentiful; after it had -continued for a few days not a single one was to be seen; but when the -thaw set in, in less than a week they abounded again on every side. - -Some redwings come here every winter, but they are less common than -fieldfares and they are not so noticeable. The points of difference -between a redwing and a throstle, the rather smaller size, the red on -the side, the slight variations in shades of colour and markings, may -easily be passed over. - -I have from my window seen a single redwing quite close to the house, -in company with a single fieldfare, both busy with the holly berries, -and in February, 1909, I saw all five of the commoner British thrushes -collected together and between them quite covering a field which had -lately been broken up by a subsoil cultivator. - -A farmer tells me that the local name for redwing is "Kit," but I see -in "The Birds of Cheshire" that "Kit" is given as one of the names for -fieldfare. - -We see fieldfares chiefly when they first arrive in October, and again -in early spring, before they leave, but, of course, there are some with -us most of the winter. The people here call them "Bluebacks," and it -was remarked as a curious thing in the late cold spring of 1891 that on -April 24th bluebacks were heard on one side of a field and a cuckoo on -the other. - -[Illustration: Old Yew Tree.] - -Blackbirds are, I think, nearly as plentiful as throstles, in spite of -relentless persecution by strawberry-growing market gardeners. -Sometimes, indeed, one is oneself compelled to own that we have a few -more blackbirds than we really want. In hot, dry summers, when the -ground is hard, they do much damage to the apple crop. Not content with -making short work with the "windfalls," they peck holes in some of the -best fruit on the trees. I noticed this especially in 1899, and again -in 1901 and 1911. In 1899 I saw four cock blackbirds amicably devouring -a fallen apple together. - -Though a blackbird's song is beautifully mellow, it is generally -disconnected and fragmentary, but I remember hearing one once that -seemed continuous, or at least much more so than usual. - -One day at the end of March (in 1895) I saw perched on a twig of an oak -tree and sitting quite close up against the trunk, a cock blackbird, -which continually uttered a small, thin sharp note, almost like the -squeaking of a slate pencil. He sat still in the same position for a -considerable time, only opening his mouth at intervals of about a -minute, or half a minute, to make this doleful noise. The same year, on -June 15th, in exactly the same place, a cock blackbird went through -exactly the same performance. - -Every winter blackbirds have been amongst the most regular pensioners -at the food-stand. - -Several times during May in 1898, and again in 1899 and 1900 and since, -I noticed a meeting of three, always, I think, three, cock blackbirds -at one particular spot, always the same, near a holly tree on the -lawn, which happens to be just opposite my window, where I could watch -them easily and unobserved. They seemed to go through a regular set -performance, like a game or a dance. They did not fight, though they -sometimes sparred a little, but ran round and round and in and out, -following and passing one another. It reminded me of a friendly -gathering of husbands for amusement, while their wives were busy with -household cares at home! - -I was much interested one day (March, 1902) in the proceedings of two -pair of blackbirds. One very elegant cock, slender and graceful, with -intensely black coat and very bright orange bill, was seeking to -impress the hen of his choice by a series of little runs on every side -of her, with his tail spread out and sweeping the grass, his body in -the shape of a bow, his beak almost touching the ground; meanwhile, the -object of all this attention seemed to consider it a mere matter of -course and to be calmly indifferent. Presently another cock, not nearly -so spruce, came on the scene accompanied by another mate. The gallant -dandy evidently had no stomach for fighting, and promptly disappeared -behind a holly bush when the newcomer threatened to assault him. His -partner, however, was made of sterner stuff, and without more ado -attacked and drove away both the intruders. - -I have never heard that there is any real difference in size, but hen -blackbirds appear bigger than cocks, just as young gulls in immature -plumage seem larger than old ones. I suppose the different colour has -something to do with it, and perhaps the cock's feathers are more -closely set than the hen's. - -My wife told me that she had seen one evening in September (1907) 16 -blackbirds on the tennis ground together. This seems perhaps rather a -large order, as they say, but in the following September I counted nine -myself, to the best of my belief, all of them cocks. - - - - -IV. - -CHATS, ROBINS AND WARBLERS. - - -In spring, and again in autumn, wheatears pass through, and may be seen -about for several days at a time. In April and May, 1908, a pair stayed -so long in some rough ground near the bank of the Ship Canal that I -thought they might be going to take up their quarters there for the -season, but by May 31st they had disappeared. - -We always have a fair number of whinchats in the meadows, and hardly a -year passes without seeing them on the grass in the garden itself. One -very wet summer, when in the low-lying lands the haycocks were standing -for days surrounded by water, I remember being struck by the number of -whinchats to be seen perching and chatting first on one haycock and -then on another. - -Though whinchats are so comparatively common, and their usual note, -exactly like the knocking of two pebbles together, is constantly heard, -their pretty little song, a cadence of a few notes repeated over and -over again, I do not remember to have noticed here. - -Only once have I seen a stonechat in the neighbourhood of this garden. -This was in October, 1890. On the opposite side of the river the land -had been raised by material excavated in the making of the Ship Canal, -and was at that time wild and covered with a strong growth of all kinds -of weeds. It was on a wire fence that ran along this bank that I saw -the bright little bird. And there, with a curious pendulum-like -movement of its tail, it continued to sit for a considerable time, -giving me ample opportunity to study it leisurely through a -field-glass. - -Though redstarts are not uncommon in Dunham Park a few miles away, only -once have I seen one in the garden, in August, 1894. It stayed for -several days, and was never far away from the place where I first saw -it. I noticed that other birds who are at home here, wagtails -especially, seemed to look upon it as an interloper and resented its -intrusion. - -One of the first things that I remember about the natural history of -Warburton is a brood of four white--or more strictly speaking, -cream-coloured--robins that were hatched in a neighbouring garden in -1872. They were jealously watched over by the owner of the garden, and -I often saw two of them until the autumn. Then they must either have -been taken (and many people were after them) or have moulted to the -ordinary robin colours, for we saw them no more. - -Robins are plentiful in the garden and in the neighbourhood generally. -They show much courage and skill in getting at the fat on the -food-stand, no matter how greatly the difficulties of doing so may have -been multiplied. - -It has been said that robins have more power than most birds to see -through the window into a room, and I certainly have observed that -though as a rule neither robins nor tits take much notice if I am -standing close by the window, yet sometimes a robin appears that will -spy me out as I sit by the fire quite far away and be off in an -instant. I have sometimes wondered if such wild robins might be -immigrants from the Continent, where by all accounts they are less tame -than in England. - -Robins are pugnacious, and their duels are not unfrequently to the -death. I have seen a robin pursue a sparrow and even fly straight at a -great-tit and knock it off the food-stand, but I have noticed that -generally a robin makes way for a sparrow, and seldom stands up to a -tit of any kind, not even a marsh or a coal-tit, birds hardly half its -size. I remember one, however, in the winter of 1900-01 who -indiscriminately attacked all tits on the food-stand. He was very -friendly with me, and used to watch as I filled the receptacles, when -he would come close up and wait for a bit to be thrown to him, and -often as he saw me coming he would sit on a corner of the porch roof -and warble a little song of welcome. Another year (1901-02) two, -sometimes three, and occasionally four, robins would be there together -almost under my feet and ready to pick up anything I threw them. Very -unlike most robins, they seemed on perfectly good terms with one -another. - -In November, 1905, a robin used to come into the house through the open -windows and make himself quite at home; he would sometimes sit and sing -on the bannisters in the hall. - -I saw a very tame robin at Budworth in 1904. I was in the garden with -the lady to whom it belonged when the bird flew on to her hand, and he -used to come into the drawing-room without any hesitation and take his -place at afternoon tea. - -In 1910 a pair of robins built in the pulpit desk of Oughtrington -Church near here, and hatched out four young ones. A friend who went to -service one Sunday evening in June saw a robin flying about and singing -until the sermon began, but then it took up a position on the back of a -seat near the pulpit and looked up at the preacher, quite silent and -apparently listening. - -One of the prettiest little episodes of bird-life is the delicate -attention bestowed by a robin on the chosen partner of his joys and -cares that I have several times witnessed during April and May. Whilst -she remained watching and waiting on the ground below, he would fly up -to the food-stand and secure a morsel which, with a tender grace, he -presented to her. The gallant devotion so plainly expressed by the one -and the caressing, coquetting airs of the other were most amusing. I -have seen, too, about the same time of the year, one robin feeding -another with flies picked from the grass and the lower boughs of a -deadara tree. The robin that was being fed did not attempt to pick up -anything for itself, but sat there on the grass quivering its wings and -opening its mouth like a nestling. - -Robins often catch flies in the air, flying up from the ground after -them, and I have seen one dart off from the branch of a tree, capture a -passing fly and return again to the same perch, for all the world like -a flycatcher. - -One showery day in spring I saw a robin on the food-stand washing -itself in the rain, spreading out its wings, shaking its feathers, -bobbing and ducking about as though it had been in a bath, and I have -noticed one washing in wet leaves and drinking from the tips of leaves. - -Greater whitethroats are as common in this garden and neighbourhood as -in most places. One that had its nest by the old river bank used to -come and scold whenever I went near, and never ceased until I left. -Such a proceeding looks like a case of instinct playing a bird false, -and serving only to draw attention to what it is wished to conceal. - -Lesser whitethroats come to us every year, and may be said to be fairly -common in the village. They are always shy and restless and more -frequently heard than seen. - -There was a lesser whitethroat's nest one year (1898) in a holly bush, -in which all five young ones used to be, whenever I looked at them, -apparently sleepy, with their heads shoved up over the side of the -nest. They never opened their mouths when we went near, and yet often -as I watched I never saw the parents feed them. - -Blackcaps are not uncommon within easy reach of us, but only twice have -I seen one actually in the garden. The first time the unusual sound of -its wonderfully clear note attracted my attention was in July, 1899. -The bird stayed here then for several days, singing occasionally all -the while. The second time a blackcap came was in May, 1903. It was in -the garden for about ten days, and I hoped it might be going to nest -here, especially as one day I thought I saw a pair. - -I noticed a difference in habits between the July bird and the one that -came in May. In July, when the joys and cares of family life were over, -there was more deliberation and less shyness. I was able to watch the -bird easily and for a long time together. In May he was restless and -very wary, and it was with difficulty I could get a glimpse of him. He -was always on the move, hunting about in the tops of the trees, and, I -thought, singing in competition with the willow-wrens. - -The blackcap is often placed next to the nightingale as a songster, but -there is a very wide interval between them. The most inattentive -listener can hardly fail to notice a nightingale's song, but people who -are not accustomed to distinguish the different notes of birds are -often quite unaware of the presence of a singing blackcap, as the tone -of his song mingles with the general chorus. - -Golden-crested wrens are not uncommon in winter, but I have never found -a nest here. I notice them most often in October and November, as they -are hunting in and out the yews and Scotch firs, sometimes a large -party, sometimes only a single pair. - -One June day I was sitting in a cousin's garden in Wales, when out of -an arbor-vitæ close by appeared a dilapidated-looking gold-crest, which -set to work violently and persistently to abuse me. Herein, I think, -like the whitethroat mentioned before, it displayed either a perversion -of instinct or a want of sense. If it had only kept quiet I should not -have thought of a nest, but it told me so plainly that it had one in -that very tree that I looked as a matter of course and found it, -packed with fully-fledged young ones. - -Chiffchaffs never stay with us, though they are to be found only a few -miles away, but I sometimes see them and hear their well-known note in -spring and autumn for a day or two. - -Willow-warblers abound ("Peggy whitethroat" is the Cheshire name), and -it is a delight to catch for the first time each spring their lovely -little song, of which, unlike the wearisome iteration of the -chiffchaff, one never tires. The American naturalist, John Burroughs, -describes the willow-warbler's strain as the most melodious he heard in -England, and the only one exhibiting the best qualities of American -songsters. He adds: "It is too fine for the ordinary English ear!" As -if on a visit of a few weeks to a strange country he could possibly -know what most English people either thought or liked! - -Willow-wrens as a rule keep pretty high up in the trees, but one -sometimes sees them on the grass picking up flies or flying up after -them in the air. Later on in summer they hunt for insects in the -kitchen garden, and are often to be seen running up and down the -pea-sticks. - -Though silent in July, they sing again after the middle of August. I -have known a willow-wren's nest here in the middle of a roughish piece -of ground that was continually walked over, about as unprotected -position as you could wish, and yet the young were successfully reared. -I have seen a willow-wren attack and drive away a perfectly inoffensive -marsh-tit that happened to alight near it on the grass. - -The wood-wren, with its "sibilous shivering note," I have heard at -Budworth, a few miles away, but never in this garden or immediate -neighbourhood. - -The garden-warbler, too, is quite a stranger, and I have never -recognised it in these parts at all. In May, 1900, I saw and heard one -for several days in a garden in North Wales, where it is generally -supposed to be unknown. - -Sedge-warblers sing incessantly when first they come, but after they -have been here for a little while are much less frequently heard. They -usually are hidden in the depths of a bush when singing, but I have -seen one pouring out its impetuous song mounted on a telephone wire in -the open, 20 feet from the ground, and another that sang as it was -flying. For several years a sedge-warbler has begun to sing again here -in July, not having been heard for some weeks previously. In 1907, for -example, from July 24th to August 2nd, he could, without much -exaggeration, be said to have sung all day and all night. I heard him -at seven in the morning when I got up and at twelve at night when I -went to bed, and I have a note of much the same thing in 1910, about -the same date. The bird that year chose as his special platform the -lower branches of a sycamore, and would every now and then fly off into -the air singing all the while at the very top of his voice, and then -return to the tree to sing again. - -Hedgesparrows are common enough all the year round, and are great -favourites of mine. They are elegant birds in their modest way, they -are unobtrusive and useful, and their song, if not brilliant, is -pleasant, and like that of the wren and the robin, it helps to cheer -the dull winter months when the more famous warblers are away enjoying -the warmth of some sunny southern country. - -There is no month in the year in which at one time or another I have -not heard the hedge-sparrow's song, but March is the time of all others -to hear it, then it seems impossible to get away from it at any hour of -the day. - -Hedgesparrows creep about in a mouse-like fashion peculiar to -themselves, with a series of little running jumps, and the continual -shuffling or flipping movement of their wings is very noticeable. - -They will take their share of the fowls' food with other birds, and -will come all round the food-stand and pick up the minutest morsels of -something on the ground, but (except in the case of a bird in the cold -weather of January, 1902), I have never seen one make an attempt to get -at the food on the stand itself. - -Sometimes on first turning out on a dark winter's morning, between -seven and eight, hedgesparrows will be squatting on the path, and will -almost let you walk over them before they get out of your way. - - - - -V. - -TITS AND WRENS. - - -Only once, in August, 1904, have I caught sight of a party of -long-tailed tits in the garden, but a friend who lived hardly a mile -away used to tell me that little parties of eight or nine might be seen -flying through his orchard nearly every winter. I think he said they -called them "churns," or something that sounded like that. - -Great-tits are common the whole year round; and very handsome they look -when their suits of velvet-black and yellow are at their best. They are -constant visitors to the food-stand, and are not baffled by any -contrivance for excluding sparrows, but they are not so plucky or so -clever at it as tom-tits. They are hectoring, full of bustle and -importance, and make themselves generally disagreeable to other birds, -but I have seldom, if ever, seen one great-tit attack another. -Sometimes one sees a pair of the quietest possible character; on the -most affectionate terms with one another they will come to the stand -together and appear perfectly oblivious of the presence there of any -other birds. - -It is not at all uncommon to see a great-tit with a crooked tail, -slightly sickle-shaped. It cannot always be the same bird, for it is 16 -years since I first noticed a bird with such a tail, and nearly every -year still (1912) I see one. - -One may often hear a tapping sound in trees and shrubs that is made by -a great-tit, and I have watched the bird after considerable tapping -draw out a grub of some sort from under the bark. I noticed on another -occasion that a tit in making this tapping noise was beating something -(through the glass it looked like a beetle) which it held in its beak -against a bough of the tree. - -Like tom-tits, great-tits will fly off with grains of Indian corn, and, -like coal-tits, they are fond of sunflower seeds. (In spite of what -Gilbert White says, I have never seen tom-tits here touch sunflower -seeds.) - -A great-tit has a note very much like the "pink, pink" of a chaffinch, -which he occasionally uses. - -Though great-tits are, no doubt, handsome birds, they are not nearly so -interesting in my opinion as either of the other three common kinds of -tit. None of them, indeed, can really compare in interest with that -audacious little villain, the tom-tit, or blue-tit, or, as he is called -here, blue-cap. He is so full of spirits, so resolute and domineering, -I delight to hear his cheery little song, if it is to be called a -song. - -[Illustration: Sundial in Old Church Yard.] - -Tom-tits in abundance come to the food-stand, which in the first -instance was specially intended for their benefit. They will come more -or less the whole year through if the food is left there, but, of -course, many more in winter than in summer, and most of all in February -and the beginning of March, when I have counted twelve on the stand at -once, but the numbers fall off very quickly towards the middle of -March. - -I have noticed every year that at certain times of the day, especially -from about 12.30 to 1.30, there is a marked increase in numbers. In -winter at least no five minutes passes without one or more birds -appearing, but at mid-day, and again to a lesser extent just before it -begins to get dark, they seem literally to swarm. - -I have found that all tits, as well as sparrows and robins, prefer a -mixture of bread and fat to fat alone. During February and March, 1897, -I weighed all the bread and fat consumed on the food-stand and found -that it was as nearly as possible eleven pounds. Lately I have added -cocoanuts to the bill of fare; they are appreciated by the tits, but -blackbirds, robins and thrushes prefer the bread and fat mixture, or -rather they do not seem to care at all for the cocoanuts. - -It is curious to see how quickly birds discover that food has been put -out on the stand. One year, after the receptacles had been empty for -weeks in the summer, I put in some fat, and in less than five minutes -a tom-tit was there. Another time I made a longish block of wood, -bored nearly through with holes, which were filled with fat smoothed -off level with the surface. This block was hung with the holes -downwards, so that from above it could look like a bit of wood only. It -was hung up at 10.30 a.m., and at 11.30 a tom-tit had found it out, and -was eating away at the fat as he clung to the block back downwards. - -Tom-tits, unlike great-tits, bully one another most unmercifully. They -can recognize each other at a great distance. A tom-tit on the -food-stand seems to know at once whether another arriving on the -nearest tree, some ten yards or more away, is his superior or inferior -in prowess. Sometimes he will ruffle up his feathers as if in -resentment at threatened intrusion, at other times he is prepared to -make way at once. As is the case with a herd of cows on a farm, the -relative standing between them seems to be an acknowledged matter and -is seldom contested. To us a couple of tom-tits appear as like as two -peas if we have them actually in the hand, and though it is easy to -understand that they can themselves distinguish differences at close -quarters, and may have some other sense than we have to help them, yet -it is a marvellous thing that they can do so without doubt or -hesitation at a distance of yards. - -The whole question as to how birds recognize one another is very -interesting. We know that a shepherd can tell one sheep of his flock -from another as easily as we can distinguish between two men, but in -the feathered face of a bird there seems to us so little room for -difference of expression, and, generally speaking, if we take feather -by feather the description of one bird will apply equally well to any -other of the same species. - -Tom-tits as a rule make way for a great-tit, but I have seen them fight -occasionally, and the tom-tit does not always come off second-best. -They are complete masters of both marsh and coal-tits, neither of which -dream of resisting them. They pay scarcely any heed one way or another -to sparrows or robins. - -Both tom-tits and great-tits in the flush of their spring-time ardour -pay to their chosen helpmates the same delicate attentions as do -robins. It is always a pretty picture to see them present their -offerings of food, but with tits it seems a rather more business-like -matter and to lack something of the tender sentiment so plainly shown -by the robins. - -Though not nearly so plentiful as tom-tits, both marsh and coal-tits -are with us more or less all the year round. Of the two, perhaps the -marsh-tit is the more regular, sometimes a pair seem to make the garden -their headquarters and to be always about, but several years may pass -without our seeing one coal-tit; then they will become almost as common -as tom-tits for a year or so, when again the number will dwindle down -to, it may be, a single pair. - -Some years ago all four kinds of tit used to come together to the -food-stand, but (with the exception of a pair of coal-tits in the -winter of 1910-11) since 1899 tom-tits and great-tits have had it all -to themselves, neither marsh nor coal-tits have been there, though both -are still frequent visitors to the garden at all times of the year. - -In June broods of young tits appear flying from tree to tree in little -parties. The old birds tirelessly hunt for food, whilst the -greeny-yellowy little ones sit expecting and cheeping among the boughs. - -In comparing the marsh and coal-tits together one might imagine that -they each originally had the same amount of black allowed them for the -head, but while the marsh-tit preferred to have all his in one patch at -the back, the coal-tit would have a bit cut out to make a bib for his -chin! Of the two the marsh-tit is my favourite. I like the delicate -tints of its more sober colouring better than the more contrasted yet -more commonplace colours of the coal-tit. - -There seems something savouring of meanness about coal-tits; they are -cautious and artful and carry away their food presumably to store, -there is not time to have swallowed it before they are back again at -the stand. - -A pair of coal-tits that were here one winter seemed quite demoralised -by the food-stand, and to have altogether given up hunting for their -natural food. - -Both kinds are perfectly amicable together, but a marsh will make way -for a coal-tit. The marsh-tit seems to excite special animosity in -tom-tits, whilst the coal-tit watches his opportunity, and, nipping in -just at the right moment, escapes much persecution. Of the two the -coal-tit has a more musical voice and a greater variety of notes, but -once (in 1899) when watching a party of marsh-tits, I heard, besides -the usual harsh note, a kind of continuous warble every now and then, -which I could attribute to no other bird, though I could not actually -see a marsh-tit uttering it. - -The delightful little wrens are always with us, and the loud, clear -ringing notes of their sweet song may be heard almost throughout the -year. In July, when most birds are silent, the wren does his best to -make up for it, he seems to take a pleasure in having the field to -himself, and his song may be heard, and often his alone every day until -the middle of August. By that time some of the robins, having recovered -from their moult, begin to tune up, and the wren leaves it to them to -keep the ball going whilst he retires from the scene to complete his -own change of feather. Apparently with such a tiny body to cover that -is not a long business, for his bright little voice may be heard again -early in September. I always myself feel inclined to say "thank you" at -the conclusion of a wren's musical effort, and have been surprised to -find that there are people, it may be many people, who do not hear his -song at all of themselves, and when their attention is specially drawn -think it "only a bird squeaking!" - -Wrens never seem to be tame in the same way that robins are, nor do -they ever attempt to get at the food on the stand, or to share in the -fowls' meals, but they often come close to the windows, creeping up and -down the frames, in quest of spiders and other small game. - -A sight was reported to me the other day that I would have given a good -deal to have seen with my own eyes. When for two days in January (1912) -the ground was thickly covered with snow, I put a plate of scraps for -the birds in the open porch. In the evening of the second day of snow, -when the maid went to light the porch lamp, she saw this plate, as she -described it, full of wrens (little birds with their tails turned up -over their backs, she called them); there must have been, she thought, -certainly not less than fifteen of them. When they saw her they flew -off in a flock to the creeper outside, just where for two or three -years there has been a wren's nest. Perhaps this little company was -made up of the family that owned that nest as their home. In was in -1909 that a wren first built there among the stems of the Virginian -creeper close to the front door. The body of the nest was quite hidden -between the creeper and the wall, the little entrance-hole alone being -visible. We constantly saw the bird going in and out, taking a turn to -stretch his wings or bringing home provisions for his household, and -often he would sit close by and give vent to his feelings in a joyous -burst of song. He appears to have been pleased with the success of his -first venture on this site, for he has used the very same nest for the -last two years. - -A wren has the same directness of flight as a kingfisher or a dipper; -it has none of the up and down course of most small birds, but it -follows a bee-line to its destination, with rapidly-beating wings, but -making comparatively slow progress. I was much struck by this, as one -day I watched a wren fly from a low bush to a height of 40 or 50 feet -up a poplar, it seemed to take quite an age to get there. - - - - -VI. - -WAGTAILS, FLYCATCHERS, SWALLOWS AND OTHER INSECT-EATERS. - - -Pied wagtails never entirely desert us, though, of course, there are -many more, and they are much more in evidence, in summer than in -winter. It is a continual pleasure to watch them, to see the speed with -which they run in pursuit of a fly, the deftness of the capture, and -the satisfaction so plainly displayed at the feat, by the eloquent -balancing of the long tail. One day in August (1899) I watched a -wagtail through a glass, and distinctly saw him capture and devour four -"daddy-long legs" in succession. Besides running after them on the -ground, they will often fly up at insects in the air. - -Pied wagtails are no respecters of persons as far as other birds are -concerned; I have seen a single wagtail at one time pursuing a peewit, -at another a sandpiper, and their encounters with swallows on the grass -are most amusing to watch. When the swallows are flying low the -wagtails will deliberately fly at them and even for a little way after -them. - -A family of pied wagtails usually take possession of the lawn opposite -one of our windows, and we can observe the process of education in the -art of catching flies, from the stage in which the young are content -to be fed entirely by their parents through that in which they -supplement the supply by their own efforts, until finally little -difference in skill is to be noticed between old birds and the young. -This family appear to resent the intrusion of other birds on their -domain (as shown in their behaviour towards swallows), and I have seen -them persistently drive away young yellow wagtails who presumed to -trespass on their hunting ground. - -Yellow wagtails are not so often seen in the garden, though they are -plentiful enough in the neighbourhood. They are lively and attractive -and their bright colour contrasts strongly with the freshly ploughed -earth so that their arrival is always noticed by the farmers and seems -to interest them more than the coming of any other migrant except the -cuckoo. - -Meadow pipits are common in the fields around, but I cannot remember -ever to have seen one actually in the garden. On a rough bit of ground -near the Ship Canal bridge they are always to be found, and I have -watched one there for twenty minutes or more at a time as he soared up -to a considerable height, singing all the time, and then came down -again to the ground with wings and tail spread out, after the manner of -a tree-pipit, with a little musical twitter just as he landed. It kept -repeating this performance over and over again all the time I was -there. - -For some years a tree-pipit used to take up his abode with us every -summer and give us the benefit of his energetic song. I was very much -amused once to watch him on some iron hurdles at the end of the garden. -He was so much in earnest and so full of energy; he would sing a little -bit, then run along the top rail a little way, then sing again, and so -on until he had gone nearly the whole length of the railings. This -entertainment he went through day after day for a fortnight or more at -the end of June and the beginning of July. - -Spotted flycatchers have not been as common with us lately as they were -at one time, when they always made their home here during their summer -visit to this country, and were constantly in evidence. We have not had -a nest for several years, and last year (1911) I did not see a single -flycatcher in the garden, but this year, I am glad to say, they have -come back again and there has been a nest in the ivy on the house wall. -It was placed so low down that we could easily look into it, but never -once did I surprise the old bird; she seemed to hear one's footsteps at -a distance, and long before one reached the nest she was off. The young -were hatched on June 29th, but their eyes did not open until July 6th. -Whilst they were blind and as they grew bigger the nest seemed much -too small for them, and often one fancied two of them must inevitably -have been smothered, as they were quite hidden under the other three. -Even after they could see there was some confusion during the heat of -the day; but it was one of the prettiest sights imaginable when they -were tucked in for the night; all five heads with their sharp little -beaks and bright black eyes were arranged in perfect order, all looking -together in the same direction out of the nest. People in the village -call these birds by the name of "old man," and it seems expressive, -somehow peculiarly appropriate to their greyish colouring and quiet -unobtrusive manners. - -For five years running a pair of flycatchers built in a fork of a thick -ivy-stem on the old church tower. They chose a most exposed place by -the side of a walk trodden by dozens of visitors to the church nearly -every day of the summer. The first time we noticed it (in 1894) the -nest was so low and so exposed that nothing could save it. In 1895, -when it was placed higher up and better concealed, the young were -successfully reared. In 1896 they chose a position actually not more -than three feet from the ground, and yet, marvellous to relate, owing -to watchful care on the part of human friends, and the continual -replacing of a screen of ivy leaves, they scored another success. In -1897, though the site was higher up and apparently much safer, the -young birds were taken, but in 1898 they were again able to escape the -attentions of cats and boys and bring off their brood without mishap; -in 1899 they wisely abandoned the dangerous situation altogether. - -I was once watching a flycatcher perched on the food-stand opposite and -close to my open window, when I noticed that besides a -constantly-repeated weak single note, it had every now and then a -cadence of two and again of three notes, and sometimes a very faint -kind of inward warble. - -The iron boundary hurdles on the south side of the garden are a -favourite stand for flycatchers, and I have seen them busily occupied -there in catching flies, which they carried to their young ones in the -trees near by, whilst every now and then the prettily-marked youngsters -would themselves come down to the top rail and sit there to be fed. -Croquet hoops on the grass near these hurdles seem to have a great -attraction for them. Two, sometimes three, would be there at the same -time. After each pursuit of a passing fly they would return now to the -same hoop, now to another, and sometimes they seemed to go the round of -all the hoops in turn. Every day throughout the summer they would be -there, and in the white line under each hoop was left indisputable -evidence of their regular occupation. - -Towards the end of July, 1902, we were much interested in a pair of -flycatchers with their little family of three. One of the old birds -would spend its time catching flies for the young ones, whilst the -other rested, sitting quite unconcerned by itself on the rails. When -the working parent brought a fly to one of the family the other two -would hurry up, and there was constantly a small crowd of four -gesticulating little birds in one part or other of the lawn. Between -the intervals of being fed the young birds learnt to forage for -themselves, not, I noticed, flying off the ground after insects, but -running after them on the grass. These five birds stayed with us until -September 9th. They often flew down from the trees to catch flies on -the grass, and would hover in front of shrubs and tall plants whilst -they picked off the flies near them. - -When flycatchers have been on the croquet hoops and swallows were -flying low, they had not seldom to get pretty sharply out of the way to -avoid a collision, as the swallows appeared purposely to fly at them. - -In 1908 we were fortunate enough to see a bird here that is very seldom -found in Cheshire, namely, a pied flycatcher. It was in the evening of -August 25th that we saw it. The strange little bird came quite close up -to the French window of the room in which we were sitting, and we -noticed plainly the white patch on his wing. It did not seem at all -shy, and I watched it about the house for an hour or so. - -It is said in "The Fauna of Cheshire" that while birds are sometimes -seen during the spring migration, there is no other record of a pied -flycatcher in Cheshire on the return journey in autumn. - -Of swallows there is no lack. Nearly every year there are one or two -nests in the outbuildings, and in 1900 a pair began to build against -the wall of the house porch just over the front door. The wall was -perfectly flat, and they began to fasten mud against it as a -house-martin would have done. To save possible untoward consequences to -the hats of visitors I rigged up a shelf over the door; this, perhaps, -frightened them, at any rate, they did not go on with their work. - -In 1908 a pair set their minds on building in the old church, and build -they did in spite of all we could do in the way of keeping doors and -windows shut (they must have found their way through some broken quarry -of a window). However, when we saw that we were beaten we made the best -of it, and really there was very little mess, and it was pleasant to -hear them warbling in the roof. When the young birds were hatched in -July the old ones were more wary than ever. If they saw anyone in the -church, instead of going on to the nest, they would turn back and fly -away with their mouthful of dainties. However, by hiding, I managed to -see the nestlings fed, and noticed that though they were very -vociferous when they guessed there was an immediate prospect of their -hunger being satisfied, a warning note from the old bird seemed to -silence them at once. - -For a good many years a pair of swallows have nested in the porch of -the new church, and in 1910 an old trimmed straw hat that hung on a -nail in an outbuilding at the church-house was chosen by another pair -as a suitable foundation for their nest, and in this rather -strangely-placed nursery they brought up a young family. - -There is something very charming in the swallow's warbling song, beyond -its association with warm and beautiful weather; and when in autumn -they are congregating by thousands, to hear them all chanting together -as they fill the air, and, sailing round and round in widening and -interlacing circles, mount higher and higher until the highest are -almost out of sight, is to my mind wonderfully grand and impressive. - -Sometimes the swallows melt away without any noticeable gatherings, -while in other years they assemble in such flocks about the end of -September that in certain favourite hunting grounds the sky is almost -darkened by them, and to watch the intricate maze of perpetual motion -is enough to make one giddy, while as at intervals they sit resting, -they seem to stretch away for miles in long lines on the telegraph -wires. - -Swallows and wagtails apparently grudge one another (and flycatchers) a -share in their insect sporting rights, if their mutual spitefulness has -any meaning. This common taste for the same kind of food often brings -the three into close quarters, and it is curious to notice the -different methods they use to compass the same end; the swallow -ceaselessly rushing at full speed through the air, the wagtail trusting -to his nimbleness of foot, and the flycatcher making a series of little -excursions upwards after his prey. I have seen swallows walking about -on the grass and picking up flies, and when their young ones are -resting on the ground they will often bring them food there, alighting -by the side first of one and then of another. - -Ten years ago it was only on two or three houses in the village that -house-martins built, and they were seldom seen except in the immediate -neighbourhood of these, but now (1911) they have become comparatively -abundant everywhere. The wooden hay-sheds recently put up at many of -the farms seem to have attracted them in the first instance, but when -once they were led to look more closely into the matter they evidently -found that there were many more eligible building sites in Warburton -than they had had any idea of before. They have never yet made their -real home with us, but during the latter part of the summer they come -in crowds to the garden, and there are among them many only just able -to fly, who spend most of their time on the roof of the house, waiting -to be fed. - -[Illustration: A Corner in the Garden with Allium Dioscorides.] - -Two house-martins fell down a bedroom chimney here, and when I opened -the window to let them out, whilst one took advantage of it at once the -other kept flying round and round quite close up to the ceiling and -resting on a bell-wire that ran across. It was a long time, more than -half an hour, before I could persuade him that he was looking in the -wrong place for a way of escape. - -At one time after the Ship Canal had been begun and traffic had ceased -on the river, a large colony of sand-martins established themselves -under the disused towing-path almost opposite, and naturally they were -then plentiful enough. Now, as far as we are concerned, the river with -all its belongings is a thing of the past, and it is only occasionally -that we see the little brown birds hawking for flies in the garden. - -I was surprised not long ago to find in a field-sandpit, a mile away -from any other sand-martins' nests that I knew of, a solitary nest in a -hole within easy reach of my hand. The young must have been hatched, -for I watched the birds go in with food. - -Sand-martins have a peculiar interest as being perhaps the most -universally distributed of all small birds. One likes to think that -nearly everywhere one went, in Asia, Africa or America, the very same -little brown swallows might be seen ceaselessly flitting about, -bringing back to mind the green fields and cloudy skies of home in -England. - -Only once have I seen that other cosmopolitan, the tree-creeper, in the -garden. One morning in May, 1895, I heard a strange, small, rather -shrill song and found that it came from a little brown tree-creeper on -an oak just opposite my window. I watched it for some time through -field glasses as it climbed about, prying into every crack of the bark -and singing as it worked. - - - - -VII. - -SPARROWS AND OTHER FINCHES. - - -Although I have never myself seen a goldfinch in the garden, they have -been seen here, and on the rough ground near the Ship Canal they are -not uncommon, indeed, I have heard of several shillings a week being -made by birds that have been caught there in spite of County Council -orders. They are usually known here as "red linnets," but another -Cheshire name for them is "nickers." - -Greenfinches (green linnets in Cheshire) abound; in early spring they -are more than usually conspicuous, as in their brightest feather they -pursue one another in and out among the hollies and dark yew hedges. -Though then less evident to the eye, throughout the summer they let us -know by their unmistakable and wearisome notes that they are with us -still. - -As early as April 29th, in 1890, I watched a greenfinch on a thorn -opposite my window feeding what appeared to be a fully-fledged young -one. It was pumping up the food from its craw, in the same way that a -pigeon does. The end of April is so unusually early for a greenfinch -family to have flown, that perhaps it was only another instance of -delicate marital attention, such as I have noticed in the case of -robins and tits. - -In February, 1893, a hen hawfinch was shown me. It had just been shot -in the village, and in 1894 I heard of a nest in the gardens at Lymm -Hall, rather more than two miles away. - -My wife told me one morning in October, 1910, that she had seen on a -tree near her window a thick-set bird with a big head and short tail -and neck, whose colour she described as some shades of brown. Two or -three little birds appeared to be mobbing it, and it kept pecking at -them like a parrot. She only saw it for a minute or two, before it flew -away round the corner of the house. It altogether sounds as though it -might have been a hawfinch. - -House-sparrows abound here, and are interesting and amusing to the -unprejudiced looker-on who doesn't suffer from their depredations. -There is no denying that sparrows are vulgar, and bold and pushing, or -that they are tiresomely persevering in the mischief that they do. They -are coarsely built and have no song, while their monotonous chirp is -distracting, but they have that which for the race of life stands them -in more stead than either beauty or musical talent; they have courage -and intelligence, a wonderful power of adapting themselves to -circumstances and a sound healthy constitution, with a digestion that -an ostrich might envy. - -The food-stand has shown me what sparrows are and what they can do. -When I set it up I had no wish to feed sparrows, and could not bear to -see them devouring all before them in the greedy, systematic way that -they have. So I set my wits to work to see if I could not contrive -something by which they might be baffled without depriving the tits of -their food. It proved more than I could do to prevent any of the -sparrows getting any of the food, but I was able to make it more -difficult for them, so difficult that only a few could manage it. They -differ very much individually: some are far bolder and more -enterprising than others, but I have found that some sparrows can do -almost anything that a tit can do in the way of acrobatic performances, -though not, of course, with the same easy grace. I tried many devices. -I had seen somewhere that if food were suspended from a pliable twig -only tits would venture to attack it. It didn't take long to prove the -fallacy of this idea. The swinging of the net made not the slightest -difference to the sparrows; they alighted on it just as readily as if -it had been lying on the ground. Then I tried hanging the net at one -end of a stick and a movable weight at the other. The stick acted as a -balance, and the net went down directly a bird settled on it. This -instability frightened the sparrows for a long time, but in the end -they got quite used to it. It was the same with many other contrivances -that I tried, they answered their purpose for a time, it may be -altogether as far as most went, but in every case sooner or later some -sparrows learnt to overcome every difficulty, and it struck me that -each successive year they seemed to do so more easily, as though they -turned the experience of one year to good account in the next. - -In 1899 I made an apparatus like a windmill, with four arms, and food -in a kind of little box at the end of each. The arms, of course, went -down directly a bird touched them. This for a long time was effectual, -and I had begun to flatter myself that I had solved the problem, but -during a hard frost some one or two sparrows overcame their fears and -managed to get the fat, and when once they saw it might be done with -safety many others learnt the trick. I then complicated the idea into a -wheel, with eight arms, and food only at the extreme point of each. -This answered so far that no sparrow seemed able to get at the fat from -the revolving arm itself as they hung on to it (an easy feat for the -tits), but they used to hover opposite the ends of the arms and pick -out the food. (Robins did this also.) Independently of its effect in -discouraging the sparrows, the wheel afforded much amusement by the -antics it imposed upon the tits as they went round and up and down on -the arms. - -One plan I tried depended for its action on the difference of weight -between a sparrow and a tit. It was the opposite of the arrangement by -which sparrows are prevented from appropriating the food put out for -pheasants, where the pheasant opens the corn-box by his weight on the -perch outside. I tried so to arrange the balance that the heavier -sparrow was cut off from the hole which contained the food, whilst for -the tit it remained open. The practical drawback to this plan was the -nicety of adjustment required, for though a sparrow is more than twice -the weight of a tom-tit, the difference between the two weights is -little more than a quarter of an ounce. - -One of the most successful contrivances, after all, is one of the -simplest. Take a tin canister (one that I used was three inches long by -2-1/2 in diameter), hang it open end downwards by a string brought -through a hole in the other end, to this string fasten inside the tin a -bit of wood about the thickness of a large pencil, and let it hang like -the clapper in a bell, projecting a quarter of an inch below the bottom -rim of the tin. Plaster all round the inside of the tin with fat, -leaving the wooden tongue in the middle free for the birds to cling to. -In this way both great-tits and tom-tits can feed themselves without -difficulty, but only one sparrow in twenty can manage with much ado to -hold on and to eat at the same time. (To see a sparrow with his -less-practised feet clinging to the edge of the tin, back downwards, -just like a tit and helping himself to its contents is a good example -of the energetic enterprise and the adaptability of his nature.) Robins -do sometimes hold on to the tin in the same way, but generally they get -quite as much as they want by flying up and pecking at the fat. They -seem able to aim very accurately, and when the tin is nearly empty can -make sure of the smallest fragments. Sparrows also attack the food in -the same way by flying up at it, but they seem to find it more awkward, -owing, perhaps, to the small space between the sides of the tin and the -wood in the middle, which barely gives room for their larger heads and -clumsier beaks. - -Another successful plan was to suspend the fat within a roll of -inch-mesh wire netting. To begin with I put this on the food-stand, at -some little distance from my window, and though at first only tits and -robins would venture down within the roll of wire, after a time the -sparrows followed suit, and, of course, there was nothing to prevent -them getting as much as they liked but their own caution. I might have -stopped them by covering the top with netting, but then the great-tits -and robins would have been excluded as well as the sparrows, and even -tom-tits could only get through the meshes with difficulty. However, I -moved the roll quite close up to the glass of the window, leaving the -top still uncovered (and the bottom closed) as before. Tom-tits came to -it in its new position almost as readily as when on the food-stand. -Great-tits came but were always rather uneasy about it, but not one -sparrow ventured to clamber down inside the roll, although it was there -for more than a year and we had some very hard frosts. They would -continually try to get at the food from underneath and from the side, -but could not make up their minds to go inside the roll itself, -although it was quite open and they had learnt to go in without scruple -when it was on the food-stand, before it was put close to the window. -The most fearless of any birds with regard to this wire roll were two -robins in the beginning of 1902; they were perpetually scrambling up -and down inside the wire, and continued to do so until April, when the -supply of food came to end. - -The extreme caution of sparrows enables one to scare them away for a -time by a fluttering ribbon or a bit of paper, but it is only for a -time; when they see that tits treat such things with contempt and -venture close to them with impunity they soon summon up courage to lay -aside their suspicions. - -I once put a wire rat-trap under the food-stand, so arranged that it -went off when a string was pulled. At first, it was baited with corn, -but while robins and tits went in and out without the least concern, -not a sparrow would go near, and for a time the presence of the trap -kept them away from the food-stand altogether. However, they could not -resist the temptation of bread, and one or two were caught at last. But -what was the use of catching them? I hadn't the heart to kill them in -cold blood and used to let them go, and indeed I quite enjoyed myself -the sense of joyous relief they must have felt as they flew off -unharmed into the free air. - -However much mischief sparrows may do, some good work must be placed to -their credit. Through a great part of the year, even in February, I -have seen them flying up after gnats, and it is a common thing in -summer to see a sparrow in pursuit of a moth. Its efforts always seem -ridiculously awkward and sometimes I fancy are ineffectual after all, -but they must commonly succeed or they would not try so often and so -persistently. - -In the spring of 1900 the grass was covered for many days together with -some kind of little black fly, and sparrows a dozen or so at a time -with blackbirds, thrushes and chaffinches found a continual feast in -them. I noticed again and again quite a big round ball of them -collected and carried away by a thrush. - -It has often been noticed that sparrows are more eager than most birds -in hunting for aphides, and I have seen a sparrow make short work of a -"daddy-long-legs." In July and August I have watched them catching -flies on the grass, running after them much as a wagtail does, indeed -once I remember seeing a sparrow and a wagtail on the lawn at the same -time, each followed by a young bird whose hunger they were trying to -satisfy with flies caught in similar fashion. - -Impudence is a marked characteristic of a sparrow. I have seen a -starling at work in his busy, methodical way, closely followed all over -the lawn by a sparrow. There he was all the time, close at the -starling's elbow and ready to pounce upon whatever dainty morsel a -skill superior to his own might bring to light. The starling was -plainly bored by his company, but the sparrow would take no hint, and -maintained his position in spite even of pointed rebuffs from the -other's beak. (In the dry summer of 1911 I noticed at different times -both a throstle and a blackbird attended in the same way by a sparrow.) - -At another time when a starling has arrived with food in its mouth, and -not daring on account of my being there to take it into its nest, has -begun, after the usual unwise custom of starlings, loudly to advertise -the situation, I have seen two sparrows, attracted by the noise he -made, take up positions one on either side and try to snatch the food -away from him. I saw this happen twice on two successive days in June, -1901. - -The dusting habit of sparrows must be counted among their many -iniquities when they indulge in it, as they often do, in a bed of -newly-sown seeds, but it was strange to see one dusting during the hard -frost of 1895; one should have thought that they were so out of the way -of dusting in winter that no sparrow would have taken advantage of the -rare opportunity when a long dry frost made it possible. - -One day in April, 1899, a sparrow that was sitting on the food-stand -close by my window made quite a song of his chirping. There was a kind -of modulation of notes, continuously uttered and accompanied by a -regular "beating time" movement of his tail. On another occasion I have -heard a sparrow sitting alone on the ridge of a roof, singing, one -could only call it, quite a little song in subdued tones. - - - - -VIII. - -FINCHES, STARLINGS AND CROWS. - - -The spruce, handsome chaffinch (in Cheshire "pied finch") is with us -all the year round, and his song here, as I suppose everywhere, is one -of the most familiar of the pleasant voices of spring. - -One or more chaffinches generally feed with the fowls (and sometimes -they are quite extraordinarily tame, hens more so, perhaps, than -cocks), but they do not often attempt to get food from the stand. -Though they sometimes do, for instance in the winter of 1910-11, there -was one that came regularly. - -The gait of the chaffinch strikes one as peculiar, it is as a fact a -hopping movement, but it gives the impression of a run. - -I have frequently noticed something like rivalry or competition in -singing between a chaffinch and another bird, such as a tree-pipit or a -lesser whitethroat, or a willow-wren. - -One night as I was going the round of the house the last thing, about -12 o'clock, I heard a great fluttering and found that a light had been -left on a table close to an unshuttered window, and outside beating -against the glass was a handsome cock chaffinch. - -In February, 1911, a brambling was brought to me for identification. It -had been shot at the other side of the village, one of a large flock. -I have never seen one in the garden itself, but not far away I think I -caught sight of a small flock in March, 1899. - -Far more interesting than stuffed specimens in a museum (how seldom, -even at South Kensington, do you see small birds well set up, even -sufficiently well to recognize the bird when met with alive!); far more -interesting is such an outdoor aviary as one finds near the Town Hall -in Warrington, where the birds appear to want nothing to make their -lives ideally happy. In this aviary bramblings seem quite at home, and -may be seen in best condition of health and feather. - -Lesser redpoles, which here they call "jitties," I have seen close to -the garden, and on the other side of the village they are common. I -have heard of one boy catching 50 in a season with birdlime; for these -he got a few pence apiece in Warrington. - -A lesser redpole was given me in 1900, and a very engaging little bird -he was. Though supposed to be freshly caught he was tame when first I -had him, and in a very short time seemed hardly to know fear. - -We used to let him out of his cage every day for an hour or so at a -time. He enjoyed this immensely, and we had great difficulty in -shutting him up again. He seemed fond of his cage, and would be -continually going into it, but directly we went near to shut the door -he was out. I tried a long string, which we pulled from a distance as -soon as he was in the cage. This answered for a time, but he got to be -so knowing that when he saw the string fastened to the door he wouldn't -go into the cage at all. We got the better of him in the end, however, -by hanging a bit of card inside the doorway; when he pushed against -this on the outside he could get by into the cage, but he couldn't open -it from the inside. We only turned the card in when we wanted him to go -back, leaving him free to go in and out as he liked till then. Oddly -enough, he used to go in almost directly the card was in its place, and -never attempted to get out again. He seemed to enjoy the exercise of -flying very much, and used to go round and round the room again and -again and again for the mere pleasure of it. - -Though he would settle on the different things in the room and stay -there for some length of time, there was never any need to clean up -after him, but on the outside of his cage he was not so particular. It -was a great amusement to him to sit and make faces at himself in a -looking-glass. - -He lived very happily with us for more than two years. In the end he -died of some kind of wasting disease, but was bright and apparently -happy to the last. - -For some months before he died, if we let him out at meal-times, as we -often did, he had a curious habit of going to the salt-cellars and -helping himself to grains of salt; once he took as many as thirteen -pinches in succession! We often wondered afterwards whether he took the -salt because he was ill or whether it was the salt that made him ill. - -I would gladly sacrifice many fruit buds for the sake of seeing -bullfinches in the garden, but never yet have I had that pleasure. -Other people in the village do not regard their visits in the same -light, and it is only because I hear of their being shot that I know -they come here. - -A bullfinch that belonged to a cousin must I think have reached the -highest degree of tameness possible in a bird. Tommy, as he was called, -was taken from the nest before he could fly, and he not only lost all -sense of fear but showed an extraordinary personal devotion to his -mistress. He used to wake her in the morning with a kiss, and warble -his little greeting. He would come directly she called him, and would -fly after her from room to room. This devotion was at last the cause of -his death. In May, 1901, he was taken to London to a strange house, and -one day hearing his mistress's voice as she came in, he flew down the -stairs to meet her, and somehow struck against the hall lamp with such -force that he was taken up dead. - -[Illustration: The Two Nests.] - -I find the following entry in my diary for November 9th, 1895:--"A -small flight of birds passed along the trees in front of the window. -Caught a momentary glance of one as it rested on the tree, and noticed -shades of brown and pink and the peculiar bill. Could they have been -crossbills?" - -Yellow-hammers, or "goldfinches" as they are called here, are often to -be seen in the fields near, but in the garden we are more familiar with -the black-headed reed-bunting. We generally have one or two about the -old bed of the river. I have watched the bird through a telescope on a -July day, as he sat on an osier twig that was swaying in the wind, -preening his feathers and uttering his short melody (?) betweenwhiles. -He would begin as though he had really something to sing, then would -come two halting notes, indicating doubt of his power to do much after -all, which would immediately become a certainty, and his brief attempt -would end in a fizzle. He would, however, be perfectly satisfied with -the performance himself, and would go through it again and again almost -as persistently as the yellow-hammer repeats his wearisome monotonous -phrase. In the spring he has a still simpler song, if it can be called -a song, consisting of two or three notes of one tone, something like -the cheep of a chicken, sometimes repeated _ad infinitum_, sometimes -followed by a short run of three or four notes more. - -We have starlings with us all the year round, and I am glad of it. Here -at any rate they do nothing but good, and they are, besides, handsome, -and are interesting to watch, while their song, whether a chorus or a -solo, is always cheerful. Cold and bad weather doesn't seem to affect -their spirits. On Christmas morning, in 1897, although there was a hard -frost, starlings were singing away merrily, one of them imitating a -blackbird's note exactly. - -At one time flocks of starlings used to come on autumn evenings to -roost in the garden. I have watched one detachment after another arrive -until the trees and evergreens were crowded with them. They did not -come so much later on when the leaves had fallen, and now that the -shrubbery has been thinned they do not come at all in any numbers. In -spring I have heard 30 or more all singing together in this same -shrubbery as late as April 2nd. - -Starlings hunt for their food in a methodical, business-like way. They -do not seem to have the peculiar gift by which thrushes hit on the -exact spot where a worm is (I fancy they do not feed much on worms) but -they go diligently over every square inch of ground in their search, -probing the turf with their bills widely open, so widely that one can -hardly see how they can close them on a grub when they find one. - -Starlings afford another example of a strange perversion of instinct or -want of common sense. If you happen to be standing anywhere near the -place that one has chosen for his nest, and he arrives with his food in -his mouth, instead of slipping quietly in whilst your eyes are turned -away, he waits outside making as much racket as he can, and you are -almost forced to notice him and cannot fail to see the whereabouts of -his nest, plainly marked as it is sure to be by plentiful splashes of -white. - -It is quite a common thing in spring and summer to see starlings -catching flies in the air, and I remember in 1906, on September 29th, -the air was, one might say, full of starlings, floating about in every -direction with expanded wings, and then shooting up or down or to one -side when they came within reach of a fly. It was a warm, still day, -and I fancy the flies they were catching were winged aphides. - -For many years now as soon as the elder-berries are ripe numbers of -starlings, chiefly young ones, arrive on the scene, and in a few days -clear them off completely. - -Jays are not common here, but we have occasionally watched one in the -garden as he was looking for fallen acorns in the grass close to the -house. - -One may pretty safely count on seeing a magpie near Arley at any time -of the year, and we do at long intervals see them in this garden and -in the fields near, but they are very far from common. - -I have heard of a magpie at a farm in the next village to this, many -years ago indeed, who kept his eye on a turkey that was in the habit of -laying eggs at a little distance from the house, and often managed to -appropriate the newly-laid egg before the farm people could stop him. - -Jackdaws are often about, generally in company with rooks, but I have -never specially noticed them settling in the garden, as the rooks often -do. - -In Wales once I saw a jackdaw busily engaged exploring the back of a -pony with its beak. The pony continued quietly grazing all the while, -but I thought he seemed rather relieved when his visitor left. - -In January, 1898, two crows appeared in the garden; I used to see them -nearly every evening. A month later we saw a single crow, injured in -one wing, go backwards and forwards over the whole length of the -opposite bank. Up and down he went, regularly quartering the ground in -his search for food. He did this for several days, and we felt quite -sorry for him, he was so diligent and persevering, and it must have -been so little that he could find within such comparatively narrow -limits. We put food for him, which he soon found and seemed to -appreciate. He drove away rooks who tried to share it with him, but as -he carried away each bit to eat in private the rooks took advantage of -his absence, and the supply did not last as long as it might have done. - -The poor bird was uncommonly wary: he would spy one out hundreds of -yards away and disappear in a wonderful manner, seeing that he could -not fly. At last some Ship Canal workmen caught him. I got him from -them and kept him for three months, but though he ate pretty well it -did not seem to do him much good, and he never became in the least tame -to the day of his death. - -We have often hoped that rooks would build in the garden; they come -sometimes to the higher trees as though they had thoughts of doing so, -but they have not gone beyond that as yet. In some years when acorns -are ripe many rooks come here to get them (in 1911, although acorns -were extraordinarily abundant, I hardly saw a single rook). I have -never seen them pick up the acorns on the ground, as the jays and -wood-pigeons do, but they gather them fresh for themselves from the -tree. - -More than once I have seen a single rook pursuing a hawk, and, on the -other hand, I have seen a rook put to flight by a missel-thrush. - -Rather a strange story was told me of a farmer's daughter at Heatley, -near here. She lived by herself not far from the railway station, and -every day, summer and winter alike, she fed a number of rooks that -habitually waited on her bounty. One winter's day, it appears, she -threw down food for a few rooks that were in a tree behind her house. -The next day they were there again, and again she fed them, and so it -grew into a regular thing, and they came expecting to be fed like so -many fowls every day of the year. My informant often watched the -proceeding, and said that the birds seemed to know their benefactress -quite well and not to be at all afraid of her, though they were as shy -of strangers as any other rooks. - -Skylarks are abundant in the neighbourhood, and often in the garden we -hear one singing overhead. I have seen a lark singing his regular song -on the ground, and have seen one perched on iron railings by the side -of a road holding a largish brown moth in its bill, and at the same -time uttering repeatedly two or three notes of its song. - -Larks are very fond of dusting in roads. I remember being struck one -hot day in June by the number of dusting larks I met with in a ten-mile -ride. Without any exaggeration there must have been one every twenty -yards on an average for the whole distance. - - - - -IX. - -OTHER BIRDS. - - -The wild shriek of swifts, as they dash and wheel through the air at -their topmost speed, seems to express such intense delight in freedom -and motion and power, that it imparts something of the same sense of -exhilaration to the beholder, at least, I know it is so with me. - -Swifts, or "long-wings," as they are equally well-named in Cheshire, -usually find their food at some height in the air, but one day in the -beginning of July (1899) I noticed a number of swifts, with a great -many swallows and sand-martins, skimming the surface of a patch of -clover which had been left standing in a field near the garden. I did -not discover what it was, but the attraction must have been something -unusual, for the number of birds passing and re-passing in the very -small space was so extraordinary that it was really difficult to -understand how they could avoid collision. All were concentrated in the -one spot, and never seemed to go beyond it for more than a couple of -yards. - -In 1896 there were swifts about all August, and I saw a pair on October -19th. I was told by a friend who was at Brighton in June, 1899, that -whenever the band played on the sea front four swifts would appear and -fly round and round the bandstand. She never noticed them there, she -said, when the band was not playing, although it was her favourite seat -at all times of the day. - -Nightjars are not uncommon on "mosses" in Lancashire, only a mile or so -away, and in Cheshire on the Carrington side of Warburton, but they are -less frequent just about here. One year, however (1902), a pair -evidently had made their nest in the rough tussocky ground which at -that time covered the bed of the old river. From the middle of June to -the beginning of July we were treated every evening to the full -programme of their entertainment, both vocal and acrobatic. Several -times one heard little snatches of the "song," even in the middle of -the day in fine, hot weather, but nine p.m., sometimes a little -earlier, was the usual time for beginning. The whirring would go on for -an hour at a time, with hardly any cessation, but often varying in tone -and volume, now swelling out louder and then sinking again. We often -saw the two birds playing about together in the air, one or other of -them making what is described as a "whipthong" noise and smiting its -wings together like a pigeon. Sometimes when they first settled again -after a flight, instead of the loud whirring there would be every now -and then a soft, liquid, bubbling sound. - -A favourite resting-place was the bare bough of a Scotch fir, and here -as it lay lengthways and perfectly still the bird looked so like part -of the branch itself that I couldn't persuade a friend who was with me -that it was a bird until he actually saw it fly away. After July 4th we -heard no more of them, and for a day or two before that the whirring -was much more interrupted, in shorter spells, and varied more in -intensity and clearness than usual. - -Before the next spring came round the Ship Canal had covered the -river-bed with another layer of mud dredgings, and we have neither seen -nor heard a nightjar in the garden since, but in June, 1910, I heard -from the keeper that he had watched one flying round an old -black-poplar just opposite the garden gate, flapping the ends of the -boughs with his wings and catching the moths that were driven out. - -One of the most delightful of country sounds is, I think, the laugh of -the green woodpecker, and when I heard that a pair of woodpeckers were -constantly to be seen (January and February, 1901) about some old -poplars not far away, and that early one morning one was working at the -rotten posts of a fence in the very next field, my hopes were raised -that even yet that welcome sound might be heard from the garden. But -the birds turned out to be greater-spotted woodpeckers and not green, -and these do not express the joy of living so plainly. I have several -times since seen one of these spotted woodpeckers in the garden. One -day (in April, 1908) I watched the bird for a long time as he visited -in succession each of the posts in a wire fence by the old river-bed. - -Green woodpeckers are rare in this part of the country, but -"lesser-spotted" are found in Dunham Park, and the keeper tells me he -has seen them in Warburton Fox-cover. - -In the low-lying meadows by the Bollin, half a mile away, kingfishers -have always been found, haunting the little water-courses and ditches, -but at one time we were able to see them even from the garden itself. - -In the making of the Ship Canal a part of the old river just beyond us -was left unfilled up, and formed a fair-sized pool. Kingfishers used to -come to this, and as long as there was any water at all in the old -river-bed I often stood outside this house and watched the blue streak -of light as the bird, with his peculiar shrill cry, flew straight as an -arrow past me. Even in August, 1899, when what remained of the river -was nothing but seething mud, in which I am sure there could have been -no living fish, I disturbed a kingfisher from an overhanging branch on -the bank. - -A friend in the village, a keen observer of birds, has often seen, he -tells me, that when kingfishers fly from the meadows to the "pits" on -higher ground they first rise straight up into the air and then dart -off in a perfect bee-line to their destination. He also said that -kingfishers invariably desert a nest that has been touched. He was -repairing the embankment of the Bollin once when a kingfisher's nest -was accidentally laid open, and although the nest itself was not -injured, and the two young ones in it were nearly fledged and fought at -his hand like little owls, when two days later he was at the place -again he found them both dead, unable to find food for themselves and -forsaken by their parents. - -The coming of the cuckoo seems to be of more interest to people here -than any event in natural history, and cuckoos are, I should say, more -plentiful with us than in many places, and are nearly as often seen as -heard. - -I must have seen a dozen one day in May from the high road during a -short drive of a few miles, and, generally speaking, in May not a day -(I should not be far out if I said not an hour of the day) goes by -without our knowing by sight as well as sound that there are cuckoos in -the garden. - -The widespread belief that cuckoos turn into hawks in winter is still -seriously held in Cheshire to-day, even by farmers. - -For three days in the end of July, 1905, I was able from my study -window to watch a young cuckoo being fed by its foster-parent, a -meadow-pipit. The cuckoo was sitting on a wire fence on the opposite -bank. At first it sat in a floppy kind of way, with its wings hanging -down on either side, as if to keep its balance, but the next day it -seemed to have gained strength and sat up better. The little pipit (if -it was always the same, and I never saw more than one at once) was not -away for more than a minute or two, except on the third day, when it -was pouring wet and food seemed harder to find. As soon as the cuckoo -knew that its nurse was coming it began opening its mouth and quivering -its wings, while the poor little dupe that brought the food would -alight a short distance off and run along the wire to its side, then, -looking ridiculously small for the job, it would manage to pop -something into its mouth, not all in one go, but in two or three. It -was curious to notice that every time after being fed the ungrateful -cuckoo gave spiteful pecks at the poor deluded little slave who was -working so hard to supply its wants. - -One day in May (1908) a cuckoo alighted on a tree close to the house, -attended by two small birds. He seemed rather uneasy in their company, -and kept looking suspiciously at them; they, I fancy, were trying to -make up their minds to attack him, but they let "I dare not" wait so -long upon "I would" that he went off unmolested. - -Barn owls are comparatively common. Farmers are learning to understand -better their great usefulness, and at least to leave them alone. Some, -indeed, do more than this, and I know of two cases where the pigeon -cote in the hay-loft has been given up to them. Through the back door -of one of these cotes I have been able to see at my ease the funny -little round-faced hissing young ones, and I was quite surprised to -find how very long it is before the fully-fledged birds turn out of the -nest. My friend at Heatley was one of those who entertained the owls, -and he told me that if an old bird accidentally dropped a mouse as he -made his way into the loft, he never by any chance attempted to recover -it. He said he used on winter evenings to see the owls fly along the -eaves of the neighbouring houses and inside the roof of a hayshed close -by, beating with their wings to drive out the sparrows that were -roosting there, and he found the remains of a great many sparrows in -their casts. - -A barn-owl appeared in the garden one day in May, 1899. It did all it -could to hide itself in the bushes and thick Scotch firs, but in spite -of its efforts the birds in the neighbourhood, led on apparently by the -blackbirds, found it out again and again, and kept up a ceaseless noise -and commotion as long as it was here. (I noticed that the fowls, both -cocks and hens, joined in the general clamour.) In December, however, I -have seen an owl fly into one of the out-houses in the middle of the -day, and even sit calmly in full view on a leafless tree without -attracting the least notice from any bird. - -The keeper tells me that brown, long-eared, and short-eared owls are -all to be found in Warburton at times, brown owls nesting here -regularly. - -Sparrow hawks come to us occasionally, but not so often as kestrels. -The difference in the behaviour of small birds with regard to these two -hawks is remarkable, and plainly shows that they have, as a rule, -little to fear from kestrels. One November day, for instance, a sparrow -hawk appeared in a tree just opposite my window, causing the greatest -commotion and consternation among sparrows and all other birds. A week -later a kestrel came to the same place at the same time of the day and -stayed about for a considerable time, but none of the small birds took -the least notice of him. - -My friend at Heatley, who used to have the owls as his tenants, once -(in 1897) shot a sparrow hawk near his house that had a screaming -blackbird in his talons, and was tearing off from its back strips of -feathers and flesh together without apparently having tried to kill it -first. He told me that twice he had seen a lark escape from a sparrow -hawk. In both instances the lark's idea seemed to be to rise higher -than the hawk, and the two kept going up together. The hawk made -repeated stoops at his quarry, but each time he missed, the lark -striking now to the right and now to the left. The contest ended in -both cases by the lark dashing down to cover from a great height; one -time it found refuge among the shrubs in a garden, and on the second -occasion it came down faster than he could describe with its wings -closed against its sides, and just slanting over the tops of some fruit -trees opposite, dashed straight into the kitchen. To do this it had to -pass through the sliding door of the back-kitchen, which was not more -than two feet open, and then through the open door of the kitchen. -Strange to say, it was able to check its speed sufficiently to alight -uninjured on the floor, though utterly exhausted and helpless. My -friend picked it up, and having held it for some minutes in his hand, -let it fly away seeming none the worse for its perilous adventure. The -hawk, he said, sailed calmly once or twice round the house before he -took himself off. - -The following is part of a letter I received in November, 1894:--"A -sparrow hawk took up his nightly abode on the transome of the top light -of a window in Arley Chapel in the autumn of 1890, and remained -constant to that roosting place until, at all events, May, 1892, when -we left Arley. How long it stayed there after we left I cannot say, but -I was told last winter that it had disappeared. The hawk was always -solitary; I never saw it with a companion. The roost was always exactly -on the same stone." - -One has heard stories of other birds living the same kind of lonely -existence, but I never saw a very satisfactory explanation as to how it -is that they come to do so. The pairing instinct is strong in birds, -and it must be a powerful motive that makes them disregard it. We are -told that if a bird of prey loses its mate it does not take it long to -find another. May we suppose that solitary birds like this at Arley are -waiting in readiness for such an emergency? Or is such a bird simply -one that, being old and cantankerous, is bored by female society, or -feels himself unequal to the cares of a family? - -All birds seem to give a sparrow hawk a wide berth, but one often sees -a kestrel pursued, most frequently perhaps by a rook, but sometimes by -a peewit or a gull. In October, 1908, I saw from the garden a kestrel -persecuted by two rooks. He kept dodging their attacks, but didn't seem -to mind them much and never turned on them. Again, at the end of -October, 1906, I was watching a kestrel as it hovered over a field -close by, when I saw it suddenly and violently assaulted by a -missel-thrush. It gave way for some space, but when in a minute or two -the thrush flew off, it returned to its first position and continued -hovering just as if never interrupted. - -[Illustration: The Food Stand.] - -I have heard from a man here, an old gamekeeper, a story like one that -I have read somewhere before. He had seen a kestrel pounce upon what he -supposed to be a mouse and fly off with it. Presently, to his surprise, -it fell like a stone to the ground and he picked it up quite dead; -close by it he found a dead stoat. - -Wild duck breed in the Bollin meadows and may sometimes be seen in the -garden as they fly over; we see wild geese, too, sometimes, and -occasionally a heron. I was much struck one day by the flight of a pair -of swans over the garden. They were not flying high, but side by side, -with their long necks stretched out, with strong regular wing-beats; -without haste and without effort, they held on their straight and even -course at a good steady pace. It gave me rather a strange impression of -dignity and power. - -One or two pairs of wood-pigeons build in the garden every year, but -they are not as common in Warburton as in more wooded country, though -sometimes large flocks visit us in autumn (_e.g._, in 1910). My friend -at Heatley told me that one year when a great many had come to feed on -acorns in a wood near his house, he had hoped from the shelter of a -wooden hut to make a good bag, but he found that in spite of their -numbers they were extremely wideawake, and though they covered the -ground in every other direction, they carefully eschewed a trail of -Indian corn, with which he had hoped to tempt them within reach of his -gun. - -Turtledoves are fairly common in Cheshire, but there are many more in -some years than in others. I only remember their nesting in this garden -once (in 1899), when they were to be seen on the lawn every day. - -Pheasants are constant visitors; we are very seldom without them at any -time of the year, and since parts of the old river-bed have been left -wild they have taken to breeding here. We have often watched from our -window the cock pheasant strutting about the hen, ruffling up his -feathers and displaying himself to advantage like a turkey-cock. The -tufts of ear-like feathers on each side of the head are a marked -feature in the cock at the courting season and give the bird a curious -Mephistophelian look. - -We noticed once when we came upon them unawares as they were feeding on -corn we had put for them, that the hen, instead of scuttling off like -the cock, clapped close to the ground almost within arm's length, -evidently trusting for concealment to her sober colouring. - -One cock who made himself very much at home here in the early part of -1901, and stayed with us for more than three months, unlike most that -have been here, was for ever crowing and clapping his wings. He always -roosted on the same tree, and every evening just before it got dark -took care to let us know that he was going to bed. - -In October, 1910, there was a cock that used to amuse himself by -sitting for half an hour at a time on the broad top of a clipped yew -hedge. Several hens would sometimes sit there with him: once we saw -seven on the top of the hedge at once. - -I have heard that in Japan at the time of an earthquake, extraordinary -commotion is noticed among pheasants. There was a slight shock of -earthquake here on December 17th, 1896, at 5-30 in the morning, and a -working man who happened then to be near the Fox-cover was especially -struck by the noise that pheasants were making in the wood. - -Nearly every year we have partridge visitors, a family party; in 1895 -there were thirteen young ones with the old pair, and last year, 1911, -again there were twelve. They always seem happy and light-hearted; they -dance and jump, they play games like "hide-and-seek" or -"kiss-in-the-ring," round about and in and out the drooping feathery -branches of a deadara, that just touch the ground, and in the intervals -they sun themselves on the walks. - -I heard very few corncrakes in 1911, but they are common enough most -years. In 1908, one took up his abode in the old river-bed just outside -our window, and used to serenade us every night (May 8th to 26th). He -went on incessantly, exactly like a clock, quite regularly and evenly. -He was at it when we went to bed about 12 and never ceased or varied in -the least as long as we were awake to hear him. - -What was once the bed of the Mersey has now (1912), thanks to the Ship -Canal engineers, become land comparatively speaking dry. But, of -course, the process of filling up was gradual, and for some years more -or less water was left in the river-bed. During one stage, which lasted -perhaps ten years, waterhens, which here are known as coots (true coots -are called "baldheaded"), became quite common in the garden. We used to -see them rather as waders than swimmers, but we did constantly see them -running about on the soft mud, washing in the little pools, and, as -pairing time came on, fighting desperately together. In the autumn a -dozen or more would be feeding on the lawn at once, and in the winter -some would often come to pick up food with the fowls, I have even seen -one make an attempt to get fat from a net hung out for the tits. We -often saw them perching quite high up in a tree. In 1907, I had a -photograph given me showing a waterhen's nest in a small wood near -Lymm. It was in a tree four feet six inches from the ground, and 200 -yards from any water. - -Golden plover come to the Bollin meadows every winter, but not so many -I think as when the land was more liable to floods, at least I do not -hear their clear whistle as often as formerly. It is not unusual to see -them flocking with peewits. - -Peewits are called simply "plover" here. There are large flocks on -every side though not actually in the garden. - -In August 1897, there was an extraordinary concourse of peewits on the -bank of the river just opposite. The noise they made was loud and -continuous, and birds were flying backwards and forwards all the while. -The whole of the bank for a hundred yards or more was covered with -them, others were at the water's edge, washing like ducks or playing -about and chasing one another, others were picking among the stones or -drinking. All the time the noise never ceased, and a friend said it -reminded her of the gulls on the coast of Ireland that she heard on her -way to America. The assembly on that particular day (August 13th) broke -up about one p.m., having lasted for more than an hour. Frequently -during the rest of the month, peewits gathered at the same place, but -not in the same numbers, and one day in December, 1898, I noticed that -there was something of the same kind on a small scale going on. - -In June, 1901, when the river-bed had been further filled up and the -pools transformed into a muddy swamp, we were able from our windows to -watch a brood of peewit chicks from the time when they were first -hatched until they were old enough to go out into the world. They were -most interesting when as quite little things with backs the colour of -the eggs they had left, they busily hunted about for food, or all -crowded together under the wings of their mother for short spells of -rest and warmth. - -Snipe breed in the Bollin meadows, and common sandpipers were always by -the river and the river-bed as long as there was any water at all in -it, always at least in August. They still seem to remember their old -haunts, and visit us occasionally. In the latter part of August, 1910, -there was one that had some feathers out of place in one of its wings -and appeared unable to fly. He seemed content enough and I wondered if -he would try to face the winter here, but whether by his own act and -deed, or by someone else's, he had gone when I looked for him in -September. In August, 1911, a sandpiper used to frequent a pit in -fields a good way from the river. - -In April and May, 1910, a pair of redshanks were constantly to be seen -in the Bollin meadows towards Dunham, but no nest was found. In 1911 -they were there again, and the keeper found a nest not far from the -Fox-cover, but I think he must have told too many of his friends about -it, for within a week of the eggs being hatched it was deserted. - -I very well remember a good many years ago, though I can find no note -of the exact year, that I saw a black tern flying backwards and -forwards like a swallow over a wet spot in the corner of the garden, -and the next day I saw what was probably the same bird flying in the -same way over a large farmyard pit close by the road, about a mile from -here. - -Since the Ship Canal has been opened gulls have been among the most -frequent and the most noticeable of all birds in these parts. Whenever -a field is ploughed up, however far it may be from the canal, there you -are sure to find gulls, and when the plough is at work in the fields -opposite, which are close to its banks, the gulls come in crowds and -form one long white line as the furrows are turned, the birds -continually rising before the plough and settling down again when it -has passed. I have identified black-headed and lesser black-backed -gulls among them, but have never attempted to decide to what species -the majority belong. Indeed, I do not feel very competent to do so, -having always found it sufficiently difficult to distinguish the -variations of gull plumage at different ages and at different times of -the year. - -In 1908 the keeper (Mr. J. Porter) showed me a Bohemian waxwing, a -hooded crow and a hobby, all of which he had shot in Warburton within a -year or two previously. - -He has told me since of stockdoves ("blue rocks" he calls them) nesting -here, and a curious story of a wren's nest on an ash-stump in the -Fox-cover in 1910, on the top of which a hedgesparrow built her nest. -Both broods, he said, hatched about the same time. - -I have received from a friend in Northamptonshire (Mr. G. S. Garrett, -of Little Houghton) a photograph showing a similar instance of two -nests built one above the other. He says: "A piece of bark about 20 -inches by 13, fell off an elm tree into a fence and dried up into a -tube-like shape. A spotted flycatcher built its nest in the top and -laid 5 eggs and a brown wren in the bottom laying 7 eggs.... The nests -are now in the Rochester Museum." - - - - -X. - -BRITISH MAMMALS. - - -The whole extent of the garden, with its croft and orchard, is not -three acres, but a fair proportion of the British mammals are from time -to time to be found there. - -The old church, largely built of timber, picturesque and quaint, stands -within a few yards of the house and its roof affords shelter to many -bats. We find the wings of moths, the remnants of their feasts, -scattered on the floor (I have noticed the wings of a tortoise-shell -butterfly among them), and I have found there more than one dead body -of a common bat; I cannot say whether that is the only kind we have, -but in 1908 a bat was seen near the house which, from the description -given of its size and manner of flight, may perhaps have been a -noctule. - -On May 28th, 1899, there was an eclipse of the sun; it was only -partial, and made very little difference to the light, but just so long -as it lasted, from 3 to 4.30 p.m., I saw a bat flying busily round and -about the church. - -The soil is light and worms seem to be abundant, but one hardly ever -sees a mole-hill in this part of Cheshire. One day, however, in -December, 1899, we noticed that a bed of parsley had withered in a -mysterious way, and when we came to look, the ground was quite -undermined with mole-runs. These were very shallow, and there was no -sign of a hillock above. Many of the roots of the parsley had been -entirely eaten off, and we saw that nearly all that remained in the bed -were full of grubs. These grubs it must have been, I suppose, that -attracted the mole, but it is curious that such an exceptional -condition of the roots should have been discovered, considering how -seldom there is any sign of a mole in the neighbourhood. We noticed -that the root of a strong raspberry cane on one side of the parsley bed -had been eaten off in the same way, but it is not very likely that this -would have had grubs in it. - -Hedgehogs are not uncommon and we sometimes see them in broad daylight. -In July one year (1900) every evening for about a week we used to see a -large hedgehog running along a broad gravel walk close to the windows -of the house. It came always at the same time, "just at the edge of -dark," as they say here, and it always took the same route and -disappeared at the same place. - -Later on in the month we found a young one, a most delightful little -animal, as friendly and tame as possible. We used to feed him with milk -every day as long as he stayed here, which was about a week, and once -when we expected some boys in the garden we brought him into the house -and put him in a box. He strongly objected to the imprisonment, loudly -protesting all the time in a voice like the squeaking of a rat, and it -was surprising to see how nearly he managed to get out, though the -sides of the box were almost two feet high. - -Stoats, commonly called weasels with us, were fairly common when we had -more rats and rabbits, but we do not often see one now (1912). We had a -white terrier that killed several, though I had an idea that dogs -looked on stoats as a kind of ferret and did not hurt them. - -We can count a fox among our occasional visitors. I have watched one -for some time that was smelling about among the shrubs just opposite to -the front door about eight o'clock on a Sunday morning. - -We are out of the regular beat of the Cheshire Hounds here, and I fancy -the secret slaying of a fox is not accounted a very heinous crime, -certainly the foxes that are often reported soon disappear. In 1899 a -fox had its "earth" in the Abbey Croft, a field next to the garden, and -we used to like to hear him barking in the still summer evenings. In -the end, however, the keepers were too many for him, and he had to -shift his quarters or else it may have been his lease of life ran out. - -We suffered very much at one time from the plague of rats. They -infested the out-buildings and the house itself, and for a long while -we were in despair about them. We tried poison, with the result that -dead rats made the kitchen uninhabitable and entailed the expense and -nuisance of taking up the floor, and still they came. We tried every -kind of trap, we had the whole of the outside walls examined, and every -possible entrance hole stopped, so at least we thought, but still they -came. At last we found that the simple expedient of doing away with the -ashpit deprived the premises of their chief attraction in a rat's eyes, -for then we had to burn on the kitchen fire all the vegetable and other -refuse that formerly found its way to the ashpit, and provided such -abundant and appetizing food. Certain it is that since we did this, -more than twelve years ago now (1912), we never have had a rat in the -house. - -I have heard of large young fowls being killed by rats at farms not far -away, but I do not remember that they ever took one of our chickens; -indeed, at a time when we used to see many rats there, a hen sat in the -stable and safely hatched her chicks. I recollect an old rat that used -to come every day to feed with the fowls without any objection to his -presence on their part. - -Rabbits were another great nuisance. They had burrows among the -tree-roots on the river bank and no one seemed able to get them out or -to shoot them, so between what they ate and what they dug up, we -hadn't much pleasure in the garden. At last we cut off so much of the -garden as we could surround with wire netting and left the rest to take -its chance. No sooner had we done this than, for what reason I cannot -tell, the rabbits disappeared completely, and for two or three years we -hardly ever saw one on our own ground, though they seemed to be as -plentiful as usual elsewhere. - -We have sometimes caught long-tailed field-mice that were eating the -peas, and the cats seemed to find voles and shrews pretty often. - -I must confess to rather a weakness for common mice; they are pretty to -look at and amusing in their ways. To give an instance of their -ingenuity and enterprise, I remember some time in the summer of 1899, -when we used to have a basin of sugar left in our room at night, a -certain mouse appeared to think that it was placed there for his own -special benefit, at any rate he was accustomed to help himself very -freely to it. We could hear him working away to get a lump over the -side of the basin, then rolling it along to the edge of the table and -letting it fall to the floor, along which he would again roll it to a -hole under the skirting-board. Sometimes he would take in this way as -many as three or four lumps of sugar in one night. Besides the sugar -there was often bread and butter left in the room between two plates, -and one morning when I took the top one off out jumped the mouse. I -cannot imagine how it got in. It certainly couldn't make its way out -again, which one should have thought a far easier thing to do. The -plates seemed to be exactly as I had left them the night before, and I -could not see that any of the bread and butter had been eaten. - -I remember what seems to me an extraordinary instance of a mouse's -power of smelling out food. In the new parish church here (consecrated -in 1885) the vestry is in the tower, and its ceiling, which is the -floor of the bellringing-room, must be nearly 20 ft. from the ground. -Just under this ceiling were suspended at one time three very long -texts; they were drawn up by pulleys with a rope that was fastened off -about six feet from the floor. One of these texts was used at harvest -festivals, and a fringe of corn had been left round the border, but all -three were elaborately done up together in brown paper, so that none of -the corn could be seen. Happening to be at the church one day I found -the caretaker had brought out these texts into the churchyard, because -he had seen, he said, a mouse running up to them by the suspending -cord. Sure enough, when he undid the wrapping the poor little thing was -there, and I am sorry to say was promptly killed. I thought its -wonderful cleverness deserved a better fate. The church was newly -built with concrete floors, and there was no regular food supply to -attract mice, so this particular mouse must have come in casually on -the mere chance of picking up something, and it must from the floor, -nearly 20 ft. below, have found out that there was corn in one of the -bundles of texts behind the brown paper that covered them, and I think -more wonderful still, it must have discovered the only way of reaching -it, along the suspending cord. - -There used to be an old piano in the Parish Room close to the new -church. This was not often used and one day when we lifted the cover -from the back part of the keyboard we found snugly placed in a corner -of the bass notes an empty mouse's nest, quite round like a bird's, and -beautifully made of dried bits of grass and coloured worsted. It seems -strange that a mouse should have found such a place for its nest, and -stranger still that in a new large bare room, with a solid wood-block -floor, it should have been able unobserved to go in and out continually -to fetch the materials for it. This it must have done, since none came -from the room itself. - -The long broad garden walk by the side of the house seems to be a -favourite thoroughfare for hares; we constantly see them passing at all -times of the year. I wish myself there were not quite so many hares in -Warburton as there are. We could do very well with fewer in the gardens -and orchards, and there would then be less inducement to hold such -frequent public coursing meetings, which, in my opinion, we could do -very well without. Some years before 1900 a large number were imported -and turned down. These were at first a great annoyance to everybody, -and did much damage to fruit trees even in mild open weather; it was -almost unbelievable the height to which they could reach, gnawing off -every bit of bark all the way round. They were, besides, far too thick -upon the ground for their own comfort. I was told by a man who worked -on the estate that he often came across bucks fighting together; they -fought so savagely, he said, that they would hardly get out of his way, -and almost knocked up against him. They begin fighting, it appears from -his account, by giving slaps with their forefeet, but in the end they -go on to worry at one another like dogs. - - - - -XI. - -DOGS AND CATS. - - -It is hard to say which is the most wonderful, to see how a dog's -intelligence can be developed by companionship with man or to look at a -Great Dane and a toy terrier together, and to remember that both breeds -have by man's agency been produced from the same original stock. - -Cats, on the other hand, have never left their wild nature far behind, -and can easily return to it, as indeed they often do. Dogs are almost -entirely dependent on their human friends, but most cats do something -for their living, and some without going wild will find all their own -food. I remember one cat in particular that did this; she was an old -cat when first I came, and lived on with me for more than fourteen -years. As long as she was strong and able to hunt she never came into -the house and never asked for food (she was tame enough when she met us -out of doors) it was only when she got to be old and feeble that she -turned to us and learnt to value the warmth of a fireside. She must -have been 20, and may well have been nearer 25 when she died, and her -great age showed itself plainly by every outward sign. In her prime she -was a large, handsome animal, but she dwindled down to absolute skin -and bone literally; her face lost all its roundness and got to be quite -small and her voice died almost completely away. Towards the last she -spent her days on one particular stool by the fire, eating very little, -but apparently content and even happy, and responding as best as she -could to any attention. I do not remember her ever lying down at that -time, she was always sitting and always on the same spot, which was -worn quite shiny in consequence. At last one day she failed to appear, -and we never found her body. - -The oddest cat we ever had was a black one that came to us of her own -accord in 1881. She had such a vile temper and was altogether so -uncanny that she might well have been possessed by an evil spirit. - -When she had been with us only a few days, I found her hanging on to -the wire-netting of an outhouse door, evidently trying to get some -pigeons that she could see behind it. Very soon afterwards another cat -was drowned for persistently taking pigeons, and it really seemed as if -Blacky understood, for never after that did she look at a pigeon with -evil intent; she would walk through a number of them as they fed on the -ground, and so little did they fear her that they hardly moved out of -her way. - -We had a canary once (and we must have had him for more than 10 years), -whose noisy song was so distracting that we used sometimes to put him -down on a table and cover his cage with a cloth. One day we went out -and left him there, and must have forgotten to shut the room door, for -when we came back we found the cover off the cage and the cat curled up -fast asleep by the side of it. The canary was unharmed and didn't -appear to be even frightened; he was hopping about in his cage quite -content and at ease. That the cat should have pulled off the cover and -then have left the bird alone seemed the more astonishing, because she -was a hardened and incurable thief. - -Blacky knew the time for afternoon tea, and was always there to the -minute. However, when something that came to her brought off all her -hair and made her a pitiable object, she seemed to know of herself that -she was not presentable, and though we did nothing to prevent her she -never came into the drawing-room again until her hair had grown; then -she appeared regularly as before. - -There may be some truth in the old saying, "Dogs care for people and -cats for places," but individuals differ very much; great love of home -is often seen in dogs, and strong personal affection in cats. - -A cat was born here in 1897 and lived with us for two years like any -other cat. She was indeed rather more intelligent than many. She had -evidently observed the manner of opening a door, for when she wanted to -get into a room she used to rattle at the handle. One day she came and -rattled at the door-handle of the study where I was sitting, but -instead of coming in when the door was opened, she led me to the -drawing-room, and standing up put her paw on the handle of the door: as -plainly as possible she had fetched me to let her in. - -Now although this cat was made a great deal of with us and seemed to -have a strong personal affection for me, spending most of her time with -me, one fine day she took herself off and disappeared altogether. - -As weeks went by and we heard nothing of her we concluded she had met -with the fate to which pitiless game preservation has consigned many -another cat. But after about three months I saw her in the garden, when -though she followed me she refused to be touched. For weeks again we -never set eyes on her, and we almost came to believe that it was her -wraith I had seen. At last I happened to notice her sitting outside a -cottage not 200 yards from this house, by which I passed almost every -day of my life, but though she looked up when I called her by name she -would not come to me. After a year or two she very frequently came into -the garden and was willing enough to be stroked, but she never entered -this house again until (in 1909) the old man at the cottage died, and -the home she had chosen for herself was broken up. Then of her own -accord she returned to us as a matter of course, and up to the day of -her death (in November, 1911) was as friendly and affectionate as -possible. - -It is odd that a cat should thus deliberately have chosen to leave a -home that was her birthplace, and where she had been more than kindly -treated. We thought at the time that it might have been through -jealousy of her own kitten, that she often found in the study, but if -of so jealous a disposition, why should she go to be one of a family of -cats in which as the last-comer she could hardly hope to take the first -place? - -The man she went to sometimes worked here, and as he was fond of cats -might have taken a fancy to this one, and possibly did something to -entice her away. If this was so, it is clear that a cat's affection is -not always for places rather than people. - -The strangest part of it all is to me not that she should have left us -for the cottage, but that at the same time her whole behaviour towards -us should have so entirely changed that she wouldn't let us touch her, -and couldn't be induced to set foot in the house. - -The old man to whom this cat betook herself was quite a character in -his way. He could neither read nor write, having been put to work on a -farm when he was eight years old, but he took a very intelligent -interest in things. His house was an asylum for stray cats and you -would find him on a winter's evening sitting in front of a good fire -with a circle of half a dozen cats round him, all staring like himself -at the grate. He used to have a fancy for clocks; there must have been -five or six of all sizes perpetually ticking away in his kitchen, not -to speak of others that were there but refused to tick any longer. He -was not content, like other cottagers, with a candle or cheap light, -but had hanging from the low ceiling a large paraffin lamp, which had -cost him at least fifteen shillings. - -He was never married, and since his mother died, some thirty years ago, -he never had a woman in the house, and yet few women could have kept it -cleaner than he did himself. - -A white terrier that we had for ten years from 1888 used to associate -words with ideas even when spoken in ordinary conversation and not -directly to him. For instance, if he was lying apparently asleep before -the fire, and we happened in talking without reference to him to -mention any words that he knew, such as "dog," or "carriage," or -"walk," he would look up or perhaps just wag his tail. - -The same dog had a wonderful gift of reckoning time. He knew Sunday -perfectly well, and he knew it the first thing in the morning, before -anything had been done to mark it as different from other days. -Generally he would lie on the rug at breakfast time and be quite alert -afterwards and on the watch to go out with us, but on Sundays he went -straight to his basket when we came down and did not move or look up -when breakfast was over. From very early days he used to go with my -wife to afternoon Sunday School. He knew exactly the time when she -ought to get ready to start, and if then she didn't move he would get -up and go to her, and he gave her no peace until she went to dress. -When he arrived at the school he would curl himself up on an old shawl -in a corner of the room, and until the Lord's Prayer before the final -grace of the dismissal prayers he would not stir. Directly he heard the -Lord's Prayer, he would get up in readiness, but he never left his -corner until the prayers were finished. On one Sunday in the month -there was catechising in the Church, instead of Sunday school, and Snap -was wont to be shut up by himself in the schoolroom until the service -was over. This he didn't much care for, and often when he had started -joyously as usual for his walk to the school, three-quarters of a mile -away, as soon as he came near enough to hear the church bell ringing, -he quietly turned round and went home. When he had been with us for -about eight years we took him to London for several weeks. He made the -best of it, and seemed to enjoy himself in a way, but it was almost -pathetic to see the change directly we got out of the train on our way -back. We had to drive three miles in a fly, and though Snap's place was -at the bottom under our feet, as soon as we got within a mile of home, -he seemed to know the smell of the country and was all excitement, and -when he found himself really at home he was quite beside himself with -joy and did not rest until he had visited in turn every familiar nook -and corner in the garden, then he threw himself down on his own rug in -his own house with a sigh of relief and satisfaction. - -I remember the same love of home in the case of another dog, a mongrel -long-haired terrier that I had from a puppy. When he was more than ten -years old he was taken to live in Hertfordshire. His friends there were -devoted to him and did all they could to make him happy, but his nature -quite changed, he lost his former boisterous spirits and seemed rather -to endure than to enjoy life. After he had been away four years I -brought him back; he was then, of course, old as dogs go, nearly 15, -but it seemed as though the intervening years had been a dream, and he -was himself again at once, just as joyous, noisy and -determined-spirited as he had ever been, and fell into all his old ways -of life, as if he had been absent only a day. - -This same dog, Stumpy we called him, had one little practical joke that -showed a sense of humour. At a farm about half-a-mile away there was a -pond, or as we say here a "pit," separated only by a hedge from the -road. On this pit there were nearly always ducks and it was a favourite -amusement of Stumpy's to steal quietly up to the road side of the hedge -just above them, and suddenly give several loud barks. He did this for -the simple pleasure of seeing the startled ducks rush quacking and -flapping to the other side of the pond; for he ran on again afterwards -perfectly unconcerned, content and pleased with himself, and I never -knew him take the slightest notice of ducks or fowls at any other time. - -I remember a rather wonderful instance of intelligence shown by -Stumpy's father when I had him with me at Oxford. He arrived there for -the first time late one evening; the next day I took him for a walk -with friends towards Godstow, and when nearly there we stood to watch -some men shooting. Sandy hated the sound of a gun, and when we -remembered him and looked round, he had gone. As he was quite strange -to the place I scarcely expected to see him again, but I found him -waiting for me outside the door in Holywell Street when I got home. - - * * * * * - -I may say in bringing these notes to a conclusion that they have in -substance been taken from a diary, and that I have not had to depend -upon my memory for what they contain, as I used to put down in this -diary at the moment any happenings connected with Natural History that -I noticed and wished to remember. When after several years I came to -look through the entries, the idea occurred to me that possibly some of -the matter might have an interest for others; I may very likely, of -course, be mistaken in this, all the more so, perhaps, because these -notes do represent what to me has been a source of very great interest. -I have had to live for many years an unexciting life, in an -out-of-the-way country place, with little society, and with few -opportunities of getting away for a holiday; and yet with the garden -itself, and the little world it embraces, in making the acquaintance of -its inhabitants and watching the doings of their daily life, I can -safely say I do not know what it is to be dull. Of course, I do not -pretend that Natural History has supplied all the interests I have had -outside my work, for I am thankful to say there is hardly anything in -the world that doesn't interest me, but it certainly is the case that -the tom-tits and the robins and the other birds have always been to me -as human friends, and have continually provided me with amusement and -pleasure. - - - - -INDEX. - - -Aviary, Outdoor--at Warrington, 68. - - -Barn Owls, 82. - -Bats in Old Church, 95. - -Birds as friends, 11, 112. - Power of recognizing one another, 40, 41. - -Blackbirds, 17, 22-25, 64, 65, 83, 84. - -Blackcaps, 31. - -Black Tern, 93. - -"Blueback" Cheshire for Fieldfare, 22. - -"Blue-cap" Cheshire for Tomtit, 38. - -"Blue rock" local name for Stockdove, 94. - -Bohemian Waxwing, 94. - -Brambling, 67-68. - -Bullfinch, 70. - - -Canary, 104. - -Cat, changing its home, 106. - Extreme old age, 103. - Uncanny spirit, 104. - -Chiffchaffs, 33. - -Chaffinches, 64-67. - -Coal-tits, 38, 41-43. - -Contrivances for baffling sparrows on the Food-stand, 59-64. - -"Coot" Cheshire for Waterhen, 90. - -Corncrakes, 89. - -Creeper, Tree-, 56. - -Crossbills, 71. - -Crows, Carrion-, 74. - Hooded-, 94. - -Cuckoos, 81. - - -Dogs, their intelligence, their love of home, 108-110. - -Dogs and cats compared, 103. - - -Earthquake and Pheasants, 89. - -Eclipse, a bat flying about while it lasted, 95. - - -Fieldfares, 22. - -Figs self-sown, 6. - -Flycatchers, Spotted-, 48-51. - Pied-, 51. - -Food for birds, 39. - -Food receptacles, 40. - -Food-stand, 59-64. - -Fox, 97. - -Frosts in spring, 3. - - -Garden-warbler, 34. - -Golden-crested wrens, 32. - -Golden plover, 91. - -Goldfinches, 57. - -"Goldfinch" Cheshire for Yellow-hammer, 71. - -Greater Spotted woodpecker, 79. - -Great Tits, 37, 38, 41. - -Greenfinches, 57. - -Gulls, 93. - - -Hares, 101. - -Hawfinches, 58. - -Hawks, Hobby, 94. - Kestrel, 84. - Sparrowhawk, 84. - -Hedgehog, 96. - -Hedgesparrows, 35. - -Heron, 87. - -Hobby, 94. - -Holly berries sometimes left untouched, 14. - -Hooded crow, 94. - -House martins, 54. - -House-sparrows, 58-66. - - -Jackdaws, 74. - -Jays, 73. - -"Jitty" Cheshire for Lesser Redpole, 68. - - -Kestrel, 84-87. - -Kingfishers, 80. - -"Kit" Cheshire for Redwing, 22. - - -Larks, 76. - -Larks and Sparrow Hawk, 84. - -Linnet, Green-, see Greenfinch. - Red-, Goldfinch. - -"Longwings" Cheshire for Swift, 77. - - -Magpies, 73. - -Marsh-tits, 41-43. - -Martins, House-, 54. - Sand-, 55. - -Meadow pipits, 47. - -Missel Thrush, 13-16, 21, 86. - -Mole, 95. - -Mouse, Common-, 99-101. - Long-tailed, 99. - - -Nightjars, 78. - -"Nicker" Cheshire for Goldfinch, 57. - - -"Old man" local name for Spotted flycatcher, 49. - -Old man, lover of cats, 108 - -Owls, Barn or White-, 82. - Brown, Longeared, and Shorteared-, 84. - - -Partridges, 89. - -Peewits, 91. - -"Peggy Whitethroat" Cheshire for Willow-warbler, 33. - -Pheasants, 88. - -"Pied finch" Cheshire for Chaffinch, 67. - -Pied flycatcher, 51. - -Pied wagtails, 46, 65. - -Pipits, Meadow-, 47. - Tree-, 48. - -Plants introduced becoming weeds, 8. - -Plover, Golden-, 91. - Peewits, 91. - - -Rabbits, 98. - -Rats, 97. - -"Red Linnet" Cheshire for Goldfinch, 57. - -Redpoles, Lesser-, 68-70. - -Redshanks, 92. - -Redstart, 27. - -Redwing, 21. - -Reed-bunting, 71. - -Robins, 18, 27-30, 60, 62, 63. - -Rooks, 75. - - -Sand-martins, 55. - -Sandpipers, 92. - -Sedge-warblers, 34. - -"Shercock" Cheshire for Missel Thrush, 13. - -Shrews, 99. - -Skylarks, 76. - -Snails not found in the garden, 4. - -Snipe, 92. - -Song Thrush, 16-21, 64, 65. - -Sparrow Hawks, 84-86. - -Sparrow, House-, 58-66. - -Sparrows and Owls, 83. - -Spotted Flycatchers, 48. - -Starlings, 72-73. - -Starlings and sparrows, 65. - -Stoats, 97. - -Stock-doves, 94. - -Stonechat, 26. - -Swallows, 18, 52-54. - -Swallows and Flycatchers, 51, 54. - -Swans, 87. - -Swifts, 77. - - -Tern, Black-, 93. - -"Throstle" Cheshire for Song Thrush, 16. - -Thrush, Missel-, 13-16. - Song-, 16-21. - Five kinds feeding together, 22. - -Tits, Blue- or Tomtit, 38-41. - Coal-, 38, 41-43. - Great-, 37, 38, 41. - Long-tailed-, 37. - Marsh-, 41-43. - -Toads not found in the garden, 4. - -Tomatoes self-sown, 6. - -Tom-tits, 38-41, 62, 63. - -Tree-creeper, 56. - -Trees in the garden, 2. - -Tree-pipit, 48. - -Turtledoves, 88. - -Two nests, one above the other, 94. - - -Voles, 99. - - -Wagtails, Pied-, 46, 47. - Yellow-, 47. - -Wagtails and swallows, 54. - -Warrington Town-hall outdoor aviary, 68. - -Waterhens, 90. - -"Weasel" local name for Stoat, 97. - -Wheatears, 26. - -Whinchats, 26. - -Whitethroats, Greater-, 30. - Lesser-, 31. - -Wild duck, 87. - -Wild geese, 87. - -Willow-warblers, 12, 33. - -Woodpecker, Greater spotted-, 79. - Green-, 79. - Lesser spotted-, 80. - -Wood-pigeons, 87. - -Wood-wren, 34. - -Wren, 18, 43-45. - - -Yellow-hammer, 71. - -Yew-tree, Old-, in churchyard, 2. - - * * * * * - - -Transcriber's Notes - -Standardized bird name hyphenation, made minor punctuation changes, and -the following correction: - -Page 84: Changed "neast" to "least." - 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