CHAPTER II 



' Kirchup ! Kirchiip ! among the ivheats 

 Partridge distant partridge greets, 

 Beckoning hints to those that roam 

 That guide the squandered cover honied 



Clare. 



It is easy, taking a score of birds, to construct a bird- 

 calendar, a zodiac of birds, that comes very near the actual 

 truths, and almost exhausts the list of more notable land- 

 fowl. There are some, like the heron or the bittern, the 

 curlew, the woodpecker, or the coot, that are not significant 



