They are commonly pruned or switched every year, or, if the adjoining field is pastured, the twigs are allowed to grow till the field is again broken up. The land is subjected to a rotation of crops; permanent pastures we have none, unless in the neighbourhood of the mansions of the aristocracy, or on rocky ground difficult of tillage. Hedge-row trees are not common, though universally admired; they are a great nuisance, blighting the hedges, lodging the crops in autumn, and harbouring the plundering ring-dove.
About the beginning of the present century many of our hedge-rows were as tall as those still to be found in many parts of England. There the pretty jay screamed harshly in every quarter, the mellow bullfinch piped to his fellows, and the goldfinch flocked in all our borders; but notwithstanding the mighty changes which have made the district like one vast garden, the thrush, blackbird, hedge-chanter, wren, chaffinch and green linnet, still nestle in our hedge-rows, and the corn and yellow buntings and whitethroats on our ditch-banks, which modern improvement has spared. The sweet-toned willowwren, and sometimes also the wood-wren, the reed bunting and the chattering sedge-warbler, may here and there be heard in some tall march-hedge, by a slow running stream, or by the horse-pond, or amongst the trees near the farm-house; and, in suitable localities, the fitful redstart and quiet little flycatcher build their nests in the garden; but, unless in fields bordering upon woods or plantations, the voices of our finer summer warblers are never heard.
The following notes are the result of five years' daily observation. They are very incomplete, but I trust that time will enable me to supply deficiencies, and perhaps oblige me to contract the latitude of some of my general views of the habits of two or three species, founded on an insufficient number of observations.
The Chaffinch. The ploughing of our stubble fields is generally finished about the end of December: those which have been sown out with grass seeds may still afford a slight supply of food, but it is then that the great body of chaffinches seek shelter near the homestead, gleaning their food in the cattle-yards, at the barn-door, on the sides and round about the stacks. Here, as in the fields, they are distinguished for their watchfulness, and well do the little birds know the import of their warning note. The dipper may be heard by the mountain stream the livelong year, and the bold missel thrush may stir the woodlands in sunny hours, even in midwinter; here the robin and the wren are silent during the dead season, and the chaffinch
