PREFACE 



If all his lessons were as joyful as learn- 

 ing to know the birds in ^the fields and woods, 

 there would be no 



" ... whining Schoole-boy with his Satchell 

 And shining morning face creeping like Snaile 

 Unwillingly to schoole." 



Long before his nine o'clock headache ap- 

 pears, lessons have begun. Nature herself is 

 the teacher who rouses him from his bed with 

 an outburst of song under the window and sets 

 his sleepy brain to wondering whether it was a 

 robin's clear, ringing call that startled him from 

 his dreams, or the chipping sparrow's wiry 

 tremulo, or the gushing little wren's tripping 

 cadenza. Interest in the birds trains the ear 

 quite unconsciously. A keen, intelligent listener 

 is rare, even among grown-ups, but a child who 

 is becoming acquainted with the birds about 

 him hears every sound and puzzles out its 

 meaning with a cleverness that amazes those 

 with ears who hear not. He responds to the 

 first alarm note from the nesting blue birds in 

 the orchard and dashes out of the house to 

 chase away a prowling cat. He knows from 



