Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1910-08-19
Like most Americans interested in

A1hS WOSI ALuOTICduS interested III
birds and books. l know a good deal
about English birds as they appear in
books. l know the lark of Shake
speare n Shelley n the Ettrtck
Shepherd; l know the nightingale Of
Milton and Keats; l know Words
worth's cuckoo; l know mavis and
MERLE singing in the merry greer wood
of the old ballads; l know Jenny Wren
n Cock Robin of the nursery books.
Therefore l haV always much desired
to hear the birds in real life; and the
opportunity offered last June AS l
could snatch but a few hours from q
very eXacting round Of pleasures and
duties, it was necessary for me to be
with some companion who could tden-
tify both Ong and singer. In Sir
Edward Grey, a keen lover of outdoor
life in all it's phases. and a delight
full companion, who knows the songs
and ways Of English birds as very few
do know them, l found the best pos
sible guide.
We left London on the morning of
June 8, "a hours before | sailed from
Southampton. Getting off the train at
BasingstOke, we drove to the pretty,
smiling valley of the Itchen. Here
we tramped for three or foul hours.
then again drove, this time to the edge
Of the New Forest, where we first
took tea at an inn, and then tramped
through the forest to an inn on it's 9th
er side, at B~rockenhurst. At the con-
clusiOn of our walk my companion
made a list of the birds we had seen,
putting an asterisk opposite those
which We had heard sing. There were
Al of the former and % of the latter.
as follows:
*Thrush. *Blackbird, *Lark. *Yellow
Hammer, *Robin, *Wren, *Golden
Crested Wren, *Goldfnch, *G%reenf1nch,
Pied Wagtail, Sparrow, *Dunnock
(Hedge Accentor), Missel Thrush,
Startling. Rock, Jackdaw, *Black Cap,
Garden Warbler, "W1llow Warbler,
~Chif Chaff, *Wood Warbler, stree
C~reeper, *Reed Bunting, "Sedge War
bier, Coot, Water Hen, Little Grebe
geon, Stock Dove, Turtle Dove, Pee
wit, Tit (7Coal TIT, Cuckoo, might
jar, Swallow, Martin, Swift. Pheasant,
Partridge.
The bird that most impressed me
O0 LILY "d1h was Iu0 O1dCh UIEu. / udO
already heard nightingales in abun-
dance near Lake Como, and had also
listened to larks, but l had never heard
either the blackbird, the song thrush,
or the black cap warbler; and while l
knew all three were good singers,
| did not know what really beau
tiful singers they were. Blackbirds
were very abundant, and they played a
prominent part in the chorus which we
heard throughout the day on every
hand, though perhaps loudest the fol
lowing morning at dawn. In its habits
and manners, the blackbird strikingly
resembles our American robin, and in
deed looks exactly like a robin, with
a yellow bill and coal-black plumage.
It hops everywhere over the lawns,
just as our robin does, and it lives in
rests in the gardens in the same fash
ion. It's song has a general resem-
blanCe to that of our robin, but many
of the notes are far more musical,
more like those of our wood thrush.
Indeed there were individuals among
those We heard certain of whose notes
seemed to me almost to equal in point
of melody the chimes of the wood
thrush; and the highest possible praise
for any song bird is to iken its song
to that of the wood thrush or hermit
thrush. l certainly do not think that
the ~blackbird has received full justice
in the books. | knew that it was a
singer, but l really had no idea how
fine a singer he was. uppOse one of
his troubles has been his name, Just
as with our own cat bird. When he
appears In the ballads as the merle,
the song thrush, it is far easier to rec
ignize him as the master singer that
he Is. 1t is a fine thing for England
to have such an asset of the country
side, a bird so common, so much in evil
dence, so fearless, and such a really
beautiful singer.
The most musical singer we heard
was the black cap warbler. To my
my ear its song seemed more musical
than that of the nightingale. 1t was
astonishingly powerful for SO small a
bird; in volume and continuity it does
not come up to the songs of the
thrushes n of certain other birds,
but in quality, as an isolated bit OF
melody, it can hardly be surpassed.
Among the minor singers the robin
was noticeable. We all know his
pretty little bird from the books, and
l vas prepared to find him as friendly
and attractive as he proved to be. but
l had not realized how we'll he sang.
No Cause for Alarm.