Nature's carol singers

_Their plumage dazzles not, but yet can sweeter strains be heard? Let other feathers vaunt the dyes of deepest rainbow flush, Give me old England’s nightingale, its robin and it...

The Cuckoo sings upon the wing, and sometimes keeps up its vocal efforts all night long. It has been asserted that only the male cries “Cuckoo,” but this is not the fact, as fem...

When in full song this bird is a most energetic vocalist. I timed one upon my watch last spring, and found that on an average he sang five times per minute, and three times out...

Although such a common species, the Meadow Pipit is shyer at the nest than the Tree Pipit, and a satisfactory photograph is difficult to secure. On one occasion I was shown a ne...

Shady woods, well-timbered dells, and stream-sides with plenty of matured trees clustering round are beloved haunts of the Chiffchaff, which builds its nest on or near the groun...

The Rock Pipit is the largest of the three members of its family breeding in this country. It is olive-brown above, marked with dark streaks in the centres of the feathers; has...

This species practises a short and somewhat pretty, but not very loud, song, which is enhanced in value by the weird solitude of the vocalist’s surroundings. It is frequently ut...

The female Chaffinch lacks the rich colouring of her mate, especially on the head and breast, and is a trifle smaller. The young are fed upon insects by both parent birds, and r...