398 ENGLISH BIRD-LIFE 



The singular charm of the Cuckoo 's simple, double-noted 

 call, however, I at ouce acknowledged. Even when one hears 

 it for the first time, it seems to voice the deeper joys of the 

 life out-of-doors. 



" Each thing to its own depth was stirred, 

 Leaf, flower, and heaven's moving cloud." 



There is a certain quality in the bird's call which ap- 

 peals to the ear much as the peacef ulness of pastoral scen- 

 ery alfects the eye. The two-syllabled song of our own 13ob- 

 white, though quite unlike, and far cheerier than that of the 

 Cuckoo, has this same power of expressing the purity and 

 joyous serenity of a life near to nature. The Cuckoo, al- 

 though it calls when flying, is far more often heard than 

 seen, and I found, as a rule, that English birds were much 

 shyer and more difficult to observe than ours, though I am 

 wholly at a loss to account for this apparent difference. The 

 Song Thrush and Kedbreast were, however, exceptions. 



As a familiar doorstep bird, one would expect the Ked- 

 breast to utter some homely little lay, resembling, for exam- 

 ple, that of our Chipping Sparrow. But, on the contrary, its 

 shrill, winding pipe and detached fragments of song seemed 

 to me indicative of the wildness and restlessness which char- 

 acterize some of the notes of the Purple Finch. The Red- 

 breast sings throughout the greater part of the year and it 

 is evident that one should hear its song during the compara- 

 tively silent winter season if one would understand the place 

 it holds in English literature and in the hearts of the Eng- 

 lish people. 



The House, or as we miscall it, the " English " Si)arrow, 

 claims with the Redbreast the privilege of doorstep bounty, 

 but I noted with satisfaction that he is no more a favoi-ite at 

 home than he is in the country of his enforced adoption. The 

 Englishman, however, does not regard the bird with the re- 

 sentment of the American. It is a natural part of his avi- 

 fauna and he is not responsible for its presence. We, on the 

 other hand, might have avoided a feathered race-problem 

 which each year becomes more serious : and it is this knowl- 



