AN ARCADIAN CALENDAR 



hares might attract St. Valentine, too, for we note they 

 are afflicted already with March madness. Again we see 

 the ludicrous ritual of their courtship, the familiar 

 picture of the Jacks, reared on hind legs, waltzing and 

 boxing, then perchance the sight of the conqueror of 

 a duel stealing softly to the side of the fair charmer. 



THE great tit, in his fine primrose waistcoat with the 

 broad black stripe, has taken a wife, or, at 

 The any rate, has appointed himself the courtier 



Dandy of a former mate. His ringing love-call of 

 Tit two repeated notes tells the world of the 



happy event, and he shows off his bride at 

 the bird-table. In the rout there gathered, of lesser 

 tits, nuthatches, and finches in variety, he cuts the most 

 gallant figure: neat in every feather, alert, courageous. 

 Though less excellent in gymnastic feats than the blue 

 tit, he has one trick few birds can rival the way he 

 perches on a bar, and, with bill and claw, pulls up, 

 inch by inch, the string from which the nut dangles. 



As a vast flock of rooks and jackdaws floats in the 

 afternoon air, wheeling in playful evolu- 

 The Young tion, the garrulous and querulous jackdaw 

 Rook's notes are in sharp contrast to the deeper 

 Fancy bass of the others ; the height at which they 

 fly mellows the united cawing, but it may 

 strike a heedful listener that it has an amorous quality. 

 Close observation reveals that many in the flock fly 

 strictly in pairs. These afternoon manoeuvres seem part 

 of the rooks' courting rites. Choosing a mate should be 

 a serious business for a young rook, since he will be 

 taking a partner for life if a virtuous rook. Every day 



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