BIRDS OF THE WAVE AND WOODLAND 55 



with them such a reputation for the table as the fieldfares, and 

 who, it might be urged, are poaching on the scanty winter- 

 provisions of thrush and blackbird — " the hawthorn's berries 

 red, with which the fieldfare, wintry guest, is fed," and 

 which, if it had stayed at home, would help to keep our own 

 song-birds alive through the pinch of the year. 



In February the rooks have repossessed themselves of their 

 old haunts : 



" His airy nursery in the neighbouring ehn 

 Constructs the social rook, and makes the grove 

 That girds the crumbUng edifice around, 

 And every angle of its ruined pile. 

 With the bass note of his harsh love resound. 



HURDIS. 



" Lofty elms and venerable oaks 

 Invite the rook, who high amid the boughs 

 In early Spring his airy nursery builds, 

 And ceaseless caws amusive." 



Thomson 



" Soothed by the genial warmth, the cawing rook 

 Anticipates the Spring, selects her mate. 

 Haunts her tall nest-trees, and with sedulous care 

 Repairs her wicker eyrie tempest-torn." 



Gilbert White. 



And so to March and " the throstle with his note so true " ; 

 and April, when " the swallow knows her time, and on the 

 vernal breezes wings her way, o'er mountain, plain, and far- 

 extending seas, from Afric's torrid sands to Britain's shore, 

 before the cuckoo"; and May, "with the darling of the 



