The Project Gutenberg EBook of Nature Near London, by Richard Jefferies

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Title: Nature Near London

Author: Richard Jefferies

Release Date: June 19, 2006 [EBook #18629]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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NATURE NEAR LONDON

BY

RICHARD JEFFERIES

AUTHOR OF
"THE LIFE OF THE FIELDS," "THE OPEN AIR," ETC.

[Illustration]

FINE-PAPER EDITION

LONDON

CHATTO & WINDUS
1905

Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
At the Ballantyne Press

PREFACE

It is usually supposed to be necessary to go far into the country to
find wild birds and animals in sufficient numbers to be pleasantly
studied. Such was certainly my own impression till circumstances led me,
for the convenience of access to London, to reside for awhile about
twelve miles from town. There my preconceived views on the subject were
quite overthrown by the presence of as much bird-life as I had been
accustomed to in distant fields and woods.

First, as the spring began, came crowds of chiffchaffs and willow-wrens,
filling the furze with ceaseless flutterings. Presently a nightingale
sang in a hawthorn bush only just on the other side of the road. One
morning, on looking out of window, there was a hen pheasant in the furze
almost underneath. Rabbits often came out into the spaces of sward
between the bushes.

The furze itself became a broad surface of gold, beautiful to look down
upon, with islands of tenderest birch green interspersed, and willows in
which the sedge-reedling chattered. They used to say in the country that
cuckoos were getting scarce, but here the notes of the cuckoo echoed all
day long, and the birds often flew over the house. Doves cooed,
blackbirds whistled, thrushes sang, ja