The Breckenridge news., 1910-09-28
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English
Singing Birds
Like most Americans interested liz


Like most Americans interested in
birds and books, | know a good deal
about English birds as they appear in
books. | know the lark of Shake
speare and Shelley and the Ettrick
Shepherd; / know the nightingale of
Milton and Keats; | know Words
worths cuckoo; | know mavis and
MERLE singing in the merry green wood
of the old ballads; | know Jenny Wren
and Cock Robin of the nursery books.
to hear the birds in real life; and the
opportunity offered last June AS
could snatch but few hours from u
very exacting round of pleasures and
duties, II was necessary for me to be
with some companion who could iden-
dfy both song and singer In Sir
Edward Grey, a keen lover of outdoor
life in all its phases, and delight
full companion, who knows the songs
and ways of English birds as very few
do know them, / found the best pos
sible guide
VIC lCll 1AOnOOh Oh lo1 hiOA hAhb Va
June g. "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 four 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 its 9th
er side, at Brockenhurst. 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, *Goldfinch, "Greenfinch,
Pied Wagtail. Sparrow, "Dunnock
(Hedge Accentor), Missel Thrush,
Startling, Rook, Jackdaw, *Black Cap,
Garden Warbler, "Willow Warbler,
"Chiff Chaf, "Wood Warbler, *Tree
Creeper, "Reed Bunting, +Sedge War
bier, Coot, Water Hen, Little .Grebe
(Dabchick), Tufted Duck, Wood Pi-
geon, Stock Dove, "Turtle Dove, Pee
wit, Tit (?Coal TIT, 'Cuckoo, might
jar, Swallow, Martin, Swift, Pheasant,
Partridge.
The bird that most impressed me
on my walk was the blackbird | had
already heard nightingales in abun-
donca noor IoLo Como ond had alco
listened to larks, but had never heard
either the blackbird, the song thrush,
or the black cap warbler; and while
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.
1t hops everywhere over the lawns,
just as our robin does, and 1t lives in
nests in the gardens in the same fash
ion. Its song has a geneIai resem-
bance 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 liken its song
TO that of the wood thrush or hermit
thrush. | certainly do not think that
the blackbird has received full justice
in the books. ! knew that it was q
singer but | really had no idea how
fine a singer he was. | suppose one OF
his troubles has been his name, just
as with our own cat bird. When he
appears in the ballads as the merle
bracketed with his cousin, the mavis
the song thrush, it is far easier to rec
gnize him as the master singer thai
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 evi
dence, so fearless, and such a really
beautiful singer.
The most musical singer we hearC
was the black cap warbler. To nay
my ear lis song seemed more musica
than that of the nightingale. 1t was
astonishingly powerful for so small
bird; in volume and continuity it doe!
not come up to the songs of the
thrushes and of certain other birds
but In quality, as an isolated bit o
melody, it can hardly be surpassed.
Among the minor singers the robin
was noticeable We all know thii
pretty little bird from the books, anC
was prepared to find him as friendl!
and attractive as he proved TO be, bu
| had not realized how well he sang
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