CONTENTS ix 



CHAPTER X 



PAGE 



White Duck ........ 103 



Green grass in March — White ducks in a blue pool — Mental 

 associations connected with the duck — A legend of 

 the country of the dead — Beauty and rarity — Sobriquet 

 of an English queen. 



CHAPTER XI 



An Impression of Axe Edge . . . . .116 



Some lucky ornithologists — Compensations that go with 

 limited opportunities — Axe Edge — Mean farms — The 

 people of the Peak — Spring on Axe Edge. 



CHAPTER XII 



Birds of the Peak ....... 124 



Seeking information at Buxton — Cuckoo and meadow 

 pipit on Axe Edge — A one-sided partnership — Song of 

 the whinchat — Voice of the curlew — The red grouse — - 

 Prologue to Chapter XIII. 



CHAPTER XIII 



The Ring-Ouzel as a Songster . . . . .132 



A species unknown to most — A blackbird that is not a 

 blackbird — First sight of the ring-ouzel — Its song — 

 Blackbird and ring-ouzel compared — Nesting ring- 

 ouzels — Thrush-calls of ring-ouzel — A suggested com- 

 parative study of thrush-languages. 



CHAPTER XIV 



Bird Music . 139 



Modern indifference to delicate music — Charm due to past 

 associations — A willow-wren at Harrogate — Intrinsic 

 charm of some bird voices — Effect of special circum- 

 stances — A rain-washed world — Exceptional songs 

 of chaffinch and whinchat — A wonderful blackbird. 



