THE SPRING FEVER 



MANY gardens now harbour thrushes' nests with eggs ; 



but the gardener who does not hold with the 

 The thrush tribe may not tell of the early nest, 



Nesting or its fate. The thrush is famed for the 

 Thrush variety of the pitches selected for its Spartan 



cradle, with a clay lining that must be hard 

 indeed for the naked young ; we find nests on the ground 

 and high in trees, in cabbages, under railway-trucks, 

 below trees where sparrow-hawks "nest, or in the sides of 

 wheat-stacks. Old nests commonly become the dining- 

 tables of mice ; and they may be used by other birds as 

 dormitories or as a foundation for their own nests. 



THE TRUCE 

 THE gamekeeper tells how the wild cock pheasant 



knows the day of his emancipation. He puts 

 The on a swaggering air, as if conscious of his 



Pheasant's warrant to pass without hindrance down 

 Warrant the woodland rides. As his strength is, so 



will be his harem. And he will have for 

 devoted bodyguard the self-same keeper who, from 

 October ist to February ist, set a high price on his 

 head. The keeper has never been in fear of killing too 

 many cocks. Even if February should find him with 

 only hens left, cocks would still find out his coverts, 

 though they came from great distances. 



THE SPRING FEVER 



ON St. Valentine's Day the birds mate. The good 



Bishop of the birds will find that many in 



The Birds' his diocese await his blessing, like the 



Wedding rooks, to whom tradition more especially 



Day assigns this day for their nuptials. The 



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