. Birds through the year . rinesmay skim in strong flight about the rock-faces, hunting forrabbits and young birds. Pairs of lean ravens guard theirpeculiar haunt among the crags, and drive off every otherbird that comes near, in the early weeks of spring before theiryoung are flown. The red-billed chough still breeds on someof the Irish cliffs, and lingers here and there in Wales andEngland; but in most places its haunts are now filled bycrowds of cackling jackdaws. i44 SPRING Small birds seem scarce upon the cliffs, by comparison; butthe sheltered hollows have their own little groups of sett
. Birds through the year . rinesmay skim in strong flight about the rock-faces, hunting forrabbits and young birds. Pairs of lean ravens guard theirpeculiar haunt among the crags, and drive off every otherbird that comes near, in the early weeks of spring before theiryoung are flown. The red-billed chough still breeds on someof the Irish cliffs, and lingers here and there in Wales andEngland; but in most places its haunts are now filled bycrowds of cackling jackdaws. i44 SPRING Small birds seem scarce upon the cliffs, by comparison; butthe sheltered hollows have their own little groups of push busily among the brakes of wind-clipped black-thorn, and climb the ivy-covered rocks ; stonechats toss fromspray to spray of the furze-thickets, and hedge-sparrows livethe same quiet searching life on the edge of the precipices asin inland gardens. But the most characteristic small bird ofthe sea-cliffs is the rock-pipit. It is larger than the commonmeadow-pipit or titlark of moors and commons, but has much. ROCK-PIPIT the same appearance and restless ways. It breeds amongthe hanging rocks, hiding its nest behind some screen ofwhite-flowered campion, or among the cushions of pink sea-thrift ; and it hovers with a wavering song-flight in theblackest gulfs. In the warm climate of Cornwall and otherparts of the west, the sea-cliffs are bright in spring with awealth of flowers and vivid verdure. Thrift stains wholeheadlands pink with its clustered heads ; sea-campion clingsin broad white masses, and bluebells cover acre after acre ofthe hanging slopes. Gorse burns golden in the hollows ; and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirdspi, bookyear1922
