CHAPTER IV 



" Clamoring Craiks at close of day 

 ^Mang fields d flowering clover gay T 



Burns. 



Which bird-voice in Nature is the most expressive? Is it 

 the ringdove's happy crooning in the green depths of the 

 woodland ? or the nightingale's solitary lamenting under the 

 cold moon ? Some might say the fierce, ringing cry of the 

 Highlanders' eagle among the clouds ; others the soothing, 

 homely clamour of the social rooks in the old Hampshire 

 elms. Or is it some other ? For myself, I think I would pass 

 them all by, significant utterances though they are, like the 

 cuckoo's tell-tale note, the sparrow's familiar chirp, the glad 

 carol of the skylark, the placid vespers of the blackbird, and 

 the joyous matins of the thrush ; pass all these by, and many 

 others, and choose — the cry of the corn-crake. Have you 

 ever noticed that while you listen to the cuckoo calling, other 

 birds seem to be silent ? The cuckoo, for the time, is the 

 only voice in the sky. So it is with the corn-crake. When 



